Ferrari is poised to conduct a test of its Imola-specification car upgrades during a designated 'filming day' at Fiorano, the home circuit of the Italian squad.
Similarly, Red Bull has also scheduled a significant aerodynamic update for its own 2024 car for the upcoming Imola race, marking its second major update this year as the team begins to be pressed by its rivals.
At the Miami Grand Prix last weekend, Lando Norris emerged victorious in McLaren's extensively modified 'B' car, igniting hopes for a tighter competitive field in future Formula 1 races.
"Miami was a good race for Formula 1," stated Ferrari's Frederic Vasseur. "We had a good all-round battle for victory and the podium places - three or four teams were in the fight."
"That's good for the show and therefore also for Formula 1."
Ex-F1 driver Christijan Albers shared his perspective with De Telegraaf, noting, "It was a little bit of a shock," in reference to Max Verstappen not securing a win last Sunday, "but it was also nice for us as fans that Max has to start fighting a bit more seriously again."
The phased discontinuation of Adrian Newey's role in technical matters marks a potential shift in fortunes for Red Bull's competitors after a lengthy period of dominance spearheaded by Verstappen since early 2022.
Red Bull's team principal, Christian Horner, disclosed, "He (Newey) was not in the team meetings in Miami - only at the race strategy meeting."
"He no longer has access to any data, and his focus will be solely on the RB17 (hypercar) from now on."
"He will still be at some races, but only really when RB17 customers are there," Horner further explained.
Former F1 competitor Christian Danner views this development as pivotal.
"This is the beginning of the end of Red Bull's dominance," he told motorsport-magazin.com. "I'm not saying they're about to collapse, but the dominance is over with Newey's departure."
Danner expressed skepticism regarding Red Bull's claim that their team's depth will adequately fill the void left by Newey.
"They said the same thing at McLaren," he recollected. "They said 'Newey is a great man who helped us, but we are so strong that we don't need him'. That turned out to be wrong."
"If it was that simple, all of the deputies under Newey would have still built a winning car. So this is bigger news than Red Bull wants to admit."
Danner anticipates Newey might find his next chapter with Ferrari.
"A sabbatical sounds nice, but Newey will be bored to death by it," he predicted.
When questioned about Newey possibly joining another team, Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff responded, "We'll see about that, but of course that's no longer part of our decision." body check tags ::
