At the moment, there is no team bigger and more prestigious than Ferrari in the world of motorsport, especially Formula 1. The Italian team is the most successful in the circus and has been part of it from day one. Scuderia Ferrari even reaps rewards for sharing such a lengthy and storied history with the pinnacle of motorsport in monetary terms. The Maranello outfit enjoys an additional  5% loyalty bonus established by Bernie Ecclestone from the yearly prize pool. The additional 5% can amount to tens of millions of dollars. However, we ask, what has that amounted to in terms of performance on the track? In fact, Max Verstappen and Co. are forcing the Prancing Horse into their worst-ever period again.

Verstappen-led Red Bull has been unstoppable since 2022. The Dutchman has won the majority of the races in the past couple of seasons and is showing no signs of slowing down. What his dominance is doing is pushing Ferrari into their worst period again with little to no ray of hope despite the Italian team earning a whopping $24 million more than last year’s winners.

The prize pool was the biggest yet in F1 history and it is divided throughout amongst the competing constructors. The bifurcation is based on a team’s final standing in the championship. According to this logic, Red Bull should’ve earned the most money, right? Well, put Ferrari’s 5% bonus into account and Ferrari earned a whopping $207 million compared to Red Bull’s $183 million. That’s a staggering $24 million difference. However, the extra money isn’t helping the Italian team put an end to its F1 draught.

Judging by the first two races, we’re looking at another Red Bull clean sweep. This will mean Ferrari will go trophyless for another season with their last silverware coming in 2008 as constructor’s champions. The last time Ferrari suffered such a massive dry spell was from 1984 to 1999. The 16-year period was the record spell for Ferrari without silverware. A trophyless season in 2024, which seems more likely than not, will equal that record.

It’s as if the Dutchman is making Ferrari useless and even the boss, Frederic Vasseur, has admitted it. However, despite unwillingly heading toward their unwanted record, there are positive signs and optimism within the team.

Ferrari insider reveals the key problem area which kept the team from getting closer to Max Verstappen

It is no secret but Ferrari has been suffering from high tire degradation since the start of the new regulations, ergo 2022. The team back in Maranello, while putting out other fires, could not understand the reason behind the toll the car was taking on the tires. This continued and persistent scenario put the Ferrari cars at a great disadvantage. However, no more!

As of the 2023 Las Vegas GP, Ferrari solved most of its tire degradation problems which is exactly how we say Charles Leclerc put up a fight against the Red Bull men and passed Verstappen twice, a rare sight for 2023. Ferrari’s Jock Clear put faith into this belief recently.

“We think we have understood what things make it possible to improve tire degradation,” said Clear. “It was a critical issue encountered two years ago and at the beginning of last year, but I believe that in 2023, in Las Vegas, we showed that Leclerc was capable of managing the tires at the level of Max Verstappen. Now I think it’s an area that we understand, and so we expect to continue working in the right direction.”

There were positive signs in the pre-season testing as well. The first two further added proof that Ferrari has finally solved its tire degradation problem. Now we wait and see if they can close the gap to Verstappen and mount a proper championship challenge.

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