Scuderia Ferrari tried but didn’t succeed in qualifying at the 5.412 km Bahrain International Circuit located in Sakhir, Bahrain. A qualifying session where the SF-24 didn’t maximize its performance, a bittersweet taste for the Prancing Horse. The overall performance of the Maranello-based team is generally satisfactory, with Charles Leclerc on the front row and Carlos Sainz starting from the fourth grid slot. The Ferrari single-seater seemed comfortable on the challenging Bahrain circuit, indicative of a positive direction in terms of car design. Just consider the time set by Charles Leclerc in Q2.
A time which would have been sufficient to start from the first grid slot. Unfortunately for the men of Maranello, it was Max Verstappen who put everything together in the second run of Q3 yesterday, also benefiting from a great slipstream unintentionally provided by Oscar Piastri on the main straight. In any case, even without this external help, the Monegasque’s final flying lap was not enough to start the season with another pole position. In the decisive lap, Charles Leclerc struggled in the first sector and suffered a snap in the fast turn 11, a factor that cost the Ferrari driver dearly.
Carlos Sainz also couldn’t progress during the qualifying session . The Spanish driver admits it, not understanding the reason for the lack of improvement. Although it’s “just” qualifying, we can undoubtedly say that the Italian car designers have created a single-seater capable of competing with direct rivals. Last year, despite skipping the second run, Charles Leclerc set a time of 1:30:000, placing him in third position on the grid for the previous season.
While the lap time achieved this year is over 8 tenths better. To be clear, the Red Bull RB20 improved its best lap time on the RB19 by “only” 5 tenths. It can be said that the SF-24 has certainly not lost the potential to be very competitive on the dry lap. A different story will be the competitive level under high fuel conditions, a true test for Project 676 during today’s Grand Prix.
Ferrari, Vasseur: The result of the SF-24 is in line with expectations.
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Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur admitted regret at not securing the pole position at the Sakhir circuit after leading the first two qualifying segments. According to the French manager, the result of the qualifying session is still encouraging because the performance was never lacking. In 2023, the leader of the Ferrari Racing Division savored the joy of several pole positions, but they didn’t always translate into victories, with the exception of Singapore.
Therefore, the approach remains very cautious. The French engineer expects to compete not only with the RB20 cars but also with several other competitors. Fred Vasseur is convinced that increased competition against Red Bull could put them in trouble. To confirm the judgment on what was appreciated in qualifying, Fred Vasseur hopes that the red cars will be protagonists of a consistent and solid race in terms of reliability. Then, the first conclusions can be drawn at the end of the race.
The key focus point in view of the Bahrain Grand Prix will be avoiding the excessive tire degradation that penalized drivers last year, requiring conservative race strategies. This is the key factor that remains to be validated. Regarding race pace, it is believed that Max Verstappen has a slight advantage in terms of tenths, even though the tire consumption curve in simulations conducted in pre-season testing and the first practice sessions is substantially similar to that of competitors.
Overall, the performance of the Ferrari SF-24 gives an excellent feeling. It couldn’t be otherwise. Therefore, there is a a lot of confidence towards the latest aero-mechanical engineering car designed in Italy, keeping in mind that today’s performance will only be a preview in the 2024 Formula 1 season. Yes, because, as the F1 technicians themselves never miss the opportunity to underline, new cars need at least 2 -3 Grand Prix to be fully understood and used to their maximum potential.
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Source: Roberto Cecere for FUnoanalisitecnica
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