At the start of the 2024 season, Ferrari looked like a serious challenger to Red Bull, especially after Carlos Sainz won in Melbourne, and Charles Leclerc took the victory in Monaco.

However, things took a turn after upgrades in Spain made the car harder to handle, leading to a tough few months for the Scuderia. 

Now it seems like the good old Ferrari might be back. The situation started to improve with new upgrades in Monza and a flexible front wing introduced in Singapore with other updates later in Austin, helping Ferrari get back on track.

In the last tripleheader, Ferrari scored the most points of any team, with 116. Both Leclerc and Sainz showed their strength, with the Monegasque taking first place at the US Grand Prix and the Spaniard winning in Mexico City.

Thanks to these results, Ferrari is now in second place in the Constructors’ Championship, just 36 points behind McLaren and ahead of Red Bull. With 557 points, the team is still in a fight for the title.

Sainz admitted that Ferrari went through a tough period in the middle of the season but credited the team for turning things around.

“I think every team this year has gone through a tough period with development, maybe McLaren is the only one where everything they’ve put on the car has worked,” he said quoted by Motorsport Week.

“But every other team on the grid I think has gone through some struggles and it’s the same for us.

“I was quite vocal and critical about those struggles and the things I didn’t like about that package. But at the same time, I’m the first one to praise the team’s recovery process from then onwards.

“The way we accepted it and recovered from it shows a great team strength and I think, in that sense, we’ve recovered really well and put ourselves back in a good position.”

He also pointed out the reasons he thinks are behind the improved performance.

“If you ask me personally, my personal feeling is that it was a very small step in terms of downforce, but it's just been maybe a bigger step in terms of usable downforce, especially the way you can run the car with stiffnesses, etc,” 

He added: “[I’m] just happy the car doesn’t bounce as much and it’s into a decent window because that’s how a Formula 1 car should behave and perform.

“What we had in mid-season was in a way not acceptable and undrivable.

“The moment we created that, I’m happy it stayed because it’s how an F1 car should behave and be, I’m happy it’s proving itself that way because it’s giving ourselves a much better platform to work with and it’s just a more useable car.”

Although a double-title challenge might have been possible with a better start to the season, Ferrari’s recent form shows they are back in the race and ready to fight until the end.