Ferrari SF-24 - 2024 Miami Grand Prix

Scuderia Ferrari’s competitor for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, the SF-24 seeks to build on the platform of its predecessor, the race-winning SF-23. In the hands of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, in their sixth and fourth seasons with the team respectively, the SF-24 has already surpassed the total number of wins, podiums and fastest laps achieved in half as many races as in 2023. Both Sainz and Leclerc have a race victory apiece, the Spaniard winning the Australian Grand Prix despite having only had surgery for appendicitis two weeks earlier, whilst Leclerc became the first Monegasque driver since Louis Chiron to win his home Grand Prix in Monaco. The SF-24 has also accommodated the debut and first competitive points reserve driver Oliver Bearman as the replacement for Carlos Sainz during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix while the Spaniard underwent treatment.

The 70th single seater constructed by Ferrari for use in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the SF-24 is the third car of the new ground effect generation and, whilst an evolution of the 2023 car, looks aesthetically very different to its predecessor. Once again, the SF-24 shares the same shade of red as the World Endurance Championship competing 499P, again this year with a matte finish on the Formula 1 car. Following a positive reception to the Las Vegas livery last November, white makes a return to the SF-24's livery, alongside yellow which was last seen in the special 'yellow-touched' livery in Monza in 2022. Whilst it's not the first time that a Ferrari Formula 1 car has featured yellow, the yellow longitudinal stripes have not been seen since 1968, while this year, for the very first time, it is paired with white. There is therefore less black on the car than in previous years, now restricted to the floor, the bargeboards, part of the halo and other small areas. Red wheel covers also debut, featuring a double white and yellow stripe, and these colours also feature on the race numbers on the body and nose. The design group, led by Enrico Cardile, aimed to build upon the team's positive end to the 2023 season, giving Leclerc and Sainz a car that is easy to drive and that reacts predictably. The goal is to allow them to make the most of the power unit’s potential, combined with their undoubted skill behind the wheel, during Formula 1's busiest season ever, with no fewer than 24 races.

These fine 1:8 scale models are of the Ferrari SF-24 as raced to third and fifth positions by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome on the 5th of May 2024. Both Leclerc’s #16 and Sainz’s #55 cars were adorned in a special livery celebrating the announcement of HP as the new long-term Title Partner of Scuderia Ferrari, featuring two colours from Ferrari’s past: Azzurro La Plata and Azzurro Dino. The former is a lighter blue used as Argentina’s official race colour during the Fifties, and was very similar to two-time World Champion Alberto Ascari’s colour of preference. In the Sixties, Surtees, Lorenzo Bandini, Ludovico Scarfiotti and Chris Amon all wore blue suits, as did Niki Lauda in his first year with the Scuderia. Azzurro Dino is a much brighter blue that found favour with several Scuderia drivers, most notably Arturo Merzario and Clay Regazzoni during the early Seventies before the red of Philip Morris International became the dominant colour for all Ferrari cars and team members. The splashes of blue colour were used in combination with white on the wings, the engine cover, the halo, the rear-view mirrors and accenting the race numbers. The wheel rims were featured fully in Azzurro La Plata, evoking memories of the single-seaters and sports cars entered by the American Ferrari importer, Luigi Chinetti, under the N.A.R.T. (North American Racing Team) banner, as well as the blue and white 158 F1 driven World Championship glory by John Surtees and red Ferraris with dark blue stripes.

Prior to the Grand Prix, Leclerc took the fight to early season leader Max Verstappen in Sprint Qualifying, narrowly missing the first spot on the grid by 0.108 seconds. Sainz was little off the pace, qualifying fifth. Despite an action-packed encounter, Leclerc was forced to settle for second behind Verstappen during the Sprint Race, whilst Sainz left a little frustrated, unable to pass the Racing Bull of Daniel Ricciardo. For the main event, Leclerc would again start from second on the grid, missing on pole position to Verstappen by just 0.141 seconds. Sainz would begin just behind in third having clocked a time just 0.073 seconds slower than his teammate, ahead of the other Red Bull of Sergio Pérez and McLaren’s duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Pole-sitter Verstappen managed to defend his lead off the line for the second time this weekend, slotting in front of the two Ferraris, who were forced to take avoiding action when Pérez dramatically locked up and fired his way into the first corner. The Mexican’s mistake allowed Oscar Piastri to slip around the outside, stealing into third onto the back of Leclerc, and ahead of Sainz, Norris and the recovering Pérez. A couple of laps later, Piastri overtook Leclerc using the Drag Reduction System on the lengthy run between Turns 16 and 17 to take second place, as race leader Verstappen continued to extend his lead. Pérez was the first of the front-runners to pit on Lap 18, releasing Norris into clean air, whilst Leclerc followed on Lap 20, increasing the pressure on Piastri in second. Verstappen clipped a bollard at the Turn 14/15 chicane, prompting a short Virtual Safety Car to retrieve the debris, before stopping for his own pit stop on Lap 23. Piastri, Sainz and Norris all continued up front for a few more laps before McLaren and Ferrari both pitted their leading drivers on Lap 27, leaving Norris in the race lead, though still needing to make his own stop. Moments later, the yellow flags flew, and a full Safety Car was deployed, for an incident involving the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Williams’ Logan Sargeant, playing brilliantly into the hands of Norris, who was now able to complete his pit stop with a much smaller time loss, returning to the track at the head of the field. Verstappen followed, ahead of Leclerc, Piastri, Sainz and Pérez. At the end of Lap 32, the Safety Car returned to the pits, Leclerc making a clean getaway but was unable to influence the battle of Norris and Verstappen ahead of him. Meanwhile, Sainz tangled with Piastri at Turn 11, the latter suffering damage to his front wing and being forced to pit. Leclerc claimed the final podium position, finishing just two seconds behind Verstappen, ahead of Sainz in fourth. The Spaniard was eventually demoted to fifth position, having been found at fault for the incident with Piastri.

The Ferrari SF-24 Miami Grand Prix Edition is limited to just 99 pieces per driver.