Scuderia Ferrari didn’t discover the anticipated efficiency on the 4.657-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya final Sunday, encountering a number of points that weighed on the Barcelona weekend. Total, three components will be recognized that stopped the SF-24 automobile in Spain, beginning with bouncing, which compelled the Maranello engineers to discover a compromise, penalizing different features.
The Circuit de Catalunya has lengthy been thought of the examination observe, the litmus take a look at to grasp the sphere values and the qualities of the automobiles on the grid, due to its traits that make it some of the difficult circuits on this planet championship. For that reason, although the calendar has modified through the years, as has the structure of the observe, the Spanish spherical was some of the anticipated this 12 months, to search out solutions to the numerous doubts concerning the worth of the grid.
Some questions have been answered, whereas for others it will likely be essential to proceed ready for future Grands Prix, additionally as a result of this season is exhibiting how issues can change inside just a few races. Nonetheless, there’s one crew from which extra was anticipated, specifically Ferrari. On one hand, it’s true that the Catalan observe didn’t finest swimsuit the traits of the SF-24, which had already proven in different world championship occasions that it was missing in high-speed corners in comparison with each Purple Bull, absolutely the benchmark, and McLaren.
However, there have been additionally components that penalized the weekend past the SF-24’s personal expectations, beginning with the return of bouncing, as admitted by Carlos Sainz on Saturday after qualifying. This facet negatively impacted the worth of the SF-24 not solely in very quick corners but additionally in different secondary features, in what finally turned out to be a form of compromise that didn’t repay.
The return of bouncing
Reviewing the season, Ferrari had by no means actually offered this phenomenon, not even in Saudi Arabia, an occasion that as an alternative put Mercedes in disaster, revealing previous issues. As a result of its aerodynamic and mechanical traits, Barcelona is without doubt one of the most demanding tracks on this planet championship, the place bouncing can seem extra acutely. The hope for Ferrari is that it’s an remoted incident, linked to the peculiarities of the observe and setup errors in the best way the automobile was configured, with the goal of discovering downforce from the ground.
Austria already presents itself as a distinct take a look at, on paper extra suited to Ferrari, whereas a extra truthful examination may very well be the Silverstone spherical, though the British circuit additionally has fewer high-speed help corners in comparison with Barcelona. Nonetheless, specializing in the occasions of the Iberian spherical, this downside had a somewhat clear and marked particular weight.
The necessity to restrict bouncing had unfavourable results on secondary features, particularly when it comes to setup, requiring the sacrifice of different components to compensate for the issues. To handle bouncing in high-speed corners, it turns into essential to intervene mechanically, discovering a stiffer setup to maintain the automobile regular throughout cornering. From this attitude, the aerodynamic and mechanical features of the automobile should work collectively, nearly relying on one another.
Nonetheless, when compelled to discover a compromise setup, which will be efficient in quick corners by serving to to restrict bouncing, the alternative downside additionally arises. It’s nonetheless a compromise, which consequently penalizes different elements of the observe. The SF-24 has all the time had an inconsistent habits in medium-low velocity corners, particularly in longer ones the place good front-end work and stability are wanted. The issue already appeared within the Chinese language Grand Prix, for instance, however not in different races with tighter sluggish corners.
An unstable compromise automobile
Within the second sector of Barcelona circuit, Ferrari additionally paid for these compromise selections, with a automobile that usually proved not solely stiff but additionally very unstable. Charles Leclerc’s mistake in flip 5 throughout qualifying partly stems from this normal instability noticed in numerous sections of the observe, not solely very quick ones, the place the drivers needed to work so much with the steering wheel, but additionally in medium-low velocity corners the place a softer setup may assist.
Though Charles Leclerc usually struggled in the beginning, switching to a setup extra just like Carlos Sainz’s, this instability additionally negatively affected one of many Monegasque’s strengths, braking. This situation impacted not a lot the act of braking itself, however the capacity to hold velocity into the nook, main the Maranello crew to rethink the definition of deceleration factors extra conservatively.
In impact, these two components, bouncing and normal instability, represented two interconnected components that ended up penalizing not solely the automobile’s total efficiency but additionally the driving force’s confidence in a number of areas of the observe.
The observe administration issue
Nonetheless, past purely technical issues, one thing additionally didn’t work as hoped on the strategic stage, although, on this case too, the 2 features have some factors of connection. The place swap between the 2 Ferrari drivers within the early a part of the race generated numerous controversies but additionally had a double influence on the race. Chronometrically, it didn’t symbolize a big lack of time, as Frederic Vasseur rightly identified in interviews. Nonetheless, it weighed extra on the observe place and tactical selections between the 2 drivers.
Even when Charles Leclerc had been forward, Ferrari would seemingly have adopted an analogous technique given the effectiveness of the undercut, additionally selecting the best second understanding that Mercedes would nonetheless have needed to react for Russell. The dialogue would then have shifted to the second stint. Estimating fuel-corrected instances, contemplating the gasoline distinction on the time of the cease, the hole between Charles Leclerc’s tempo on the medium tires and Hamilton’s is minimal, highlighting the great tempo of the Mercedes driver. Moreover, it ought to be famous that within the first a part of the stint, the seven-time world champion needed to struggle with Carlos Sainz, whereas within the center half, he was behind George Russell: when he had clear air, his instances dropped, exhibiting there was room for enchancment.
Extending the stint to profit from brisker tires is sensible, however there’s a restrict the place extending an excessive amount of doesn’t permit for recovering the collected hole. For reference, Charles Leclerc’s hole on the time of Lewis Hamilton‘s second cease was larger than on the first cease: added to that is the truth that, if the tire offset within the first stint was eight laps, within the second stint, it was halved, with an analogous error to that made by McLaren in opposition to Max Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton’s final stint is troublesome to take as a reference as a result of, as soon as he acquired forward of George Russell, the crew suggested him to be cautious in his method, a lot in order that pronounced lifts in quick corners will be seen, particularly in the direction of the tip, when the possibility of reaching the rostrum grew to become more and more concrete. The selection with Carlos Sainz to change to the arduous tires, nonetheless, had two motivations: partly the tempo, which, even fuel-corrected on the medium, was slower than his teammate’s, but additionally Ferrari’s must cowl George Russell’s technique, diversifying the race techniques and having a driver overlaying the rivals.
Though Charles Leclerc had a superb tempo on the medium tires, it isn’t excluded that if he had been the driving force compelled to cease early within the first stint, that position would have fallen to the Monegasque. It’s no secret that Ferrari had additionally proposed the arduous tires to Charles Leclerc for the ultimate stint earlier than lastly switching to the comfortable.
Three components – bouncing, instability, and strategic or observe choices – in some way put Ferrari in issue final weekend on the Circuit de Catalunya in the Spanish Grand Prix, interlinking with one another.
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