“3 Tenths Is Massive”: Fred Vasseur’s Masterstoke Can Leave Max Verstappen Sweating and the Tifosi’s Jaw Dropped

In the last decade and a half, Mercedes and Red Bull have played the championship showdown amongst themselves with Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen bringing the trophy home for Milton Keynes and Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg bringing it for Brackley. However, the Big Three Triplet is not complete without Scuderia Ferrari. Often finishing second behind Merc during previous regulations, they have also been Red Bull’s closest competitor post-2022. But if reports are to be believed, Frederic Vasseur is prepared to give Christian Horner and Max Verstappen a run for their money.

Charles Leclerc became Max Verstappen’s closest competitor in 2022 in the first half of the season and his teammate Carlos Sainz has broken Verstappen’s winning streak twice. If Maranello can play their cards right, the basic ingredients to end the thumping dominance of Red Bull are right there in the corridors that have seen 12 world championships being brought home. And the scales appear to be tipping in the Italian team’s favor.

According to the latest reports, Ferrari will revise the floor in its entirety with the internal drifts of the Venturi entrances. If everything goes to plan in Maranello, the step should be around 15 overall load-efficiency points, which would mean 3-tenths per lap, with an even more ambitious target in terms of race pace.

While this may be another nightmare for Red Bull and Max Verstappen, the Tifosi seem extremely pleased by this update.

Tifosi left overjoyed after Frederic Vasseur’s masterstroke became public

Frederic Vasseur, only in the second year of his tenure, managed to pull the biggest masterstroke ever since the signing of Michael Schumacher- it was signing Lewis Hamilton. To add to that, he is reportedly in negotiations to sign Adrian Newey. It all seems to be aligning for a Ferrari comeback under Fred’s leadership. And the news of gaining 3-tenths after a floor upgrade is just another happy news for the Maranello Army. This created a stir on X.

One user on X expressed how “massive” these upgrades could be.

Another went one step ahead to give the overall picture that wasn’t restricted to only the floor upgrades.

Some remained hopeful while not saying much, probably afraid to jinx it.

And some even began predicting the end of Max’s dominance.

But the overall dominant emotion remained hope. It is almost as if there is light at the end of the tunnel.

What are your expectations from these upgrades? Can Ferrari beat Red Bull?