2024 Monaco GP: Ferrari secures victory by preventing Lando Norris’ potential pit stop. How Ferrari managed the pace in Monaco.

Scuderia Ferrari wins the 2024 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc and wipes away past bitter disappointments in Monte Carlo. A celebration to be fully enjoyed by the team and the fans, because the updated SF-24 car was not in fact the favorite for the Monaco weekend. Yet, the Maranello drivers, technicians, and engineers gave their all. An effort that once again, if it wasn’t clear already, shows how the all-red Italian F1 team has changed. Team principal Frederic Vasseur has shaped an active, aware group of people. A team ready to take risks and is confident in its capabilities. The results are evident, and this is just the beginning of a precise plan: to consistently return to winning and bring the Formula 1 title back to Maranello.

At the start, both Ferrari cars and the McLarens of Lando Norris an Oscar Piastri opted for a race with the Medium tire, thus discarding the Soft option for various reasons. The difference in grip between the two compounds was not significant, so it was not necessary to use the red-banded Pirelli at the start of the seventh round of the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship. Additionally, the medium compound allowed for a few more laps in the first run, keeping in mind that at the Monaco track, it is crucial to postpone the pit stop while maintaining track position. After the chaotic start due to the crash between Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, the red flag allowed for tire changes.

Since the first lap had not been completed, Carlos Sainz was able to regain his starting grid position, a lucky break for the Maranello team after many unlucky moments on the streets of Monte Carlo in recent years, which already seemed to point to the fact that this would finally be the Sunday Ferrari fans were waiting for. The Italian side and McLaren then switched to the Hard tire, which was meant the hards could be used for basically the entire race. In this way, they bypassed the double compound rule, opening up the possibility of potentially reaching the end of the Monaco Grand Prix without needing to stop for a pit stop. If the hardest compound did not last until the finish, several opportunities would arise. By making a pit stop, the cars could switch to a softer tire that has a quicker “warm-up” speed.

For this reason, the undercut could be very powerful, considering that the delta between a new red/yellow tire and an old white compound would be quite significant. Furthermore, in this hypothetical scenario, another factor must be mentioned: a driver subjected to the undercut could stay out and block the track. In the first part of the race, Charles Leclerc immediately began to manage the tire, starting with a ‘slow introduction,’ as suggested by his new race engineer Bryan Bozzi on the radio. Discussions mainly focused on managing the temperature of the Hard compound.

Turn 5 was a strategic point on the track, where speed had to be limited on entry in order to contain the temperatures that develop on the front axle. It is a banking curve that engages the tires for several seconds and, in turn, stresses them. Other strategic corners in terms of tire management were 12 and 14. Managing the compound is more important than creating a safety gap. Extending the stint as much as possible while waiting to see if a stop was necessary was imperative to maintain position. Ferrari never mentioned any problems with the rear end, where they managed to stabilize the temperatures in the tire carcasses.

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There is another interesting aspect worth pointing out. The Italian team tried to “use” Carlos Sainz to their advantage, considering the Spaniard had about a 2-second lead over the McLaren MCL38 of Lando Norris. Under orders from the Maranello pit wall, Carlos Sainz tried to slow down the Englishman to push him out of George Russell’s hypothetical pit stop window, who was about 16 seconds behind them at that moment. By doing so, Ferrari avoided Lando Norris attempting an undercut during a pit stop, as stopping would have put him behind George Russell, who had a very slow pace, thereby rendering the strategy ineffective.

If the gap between the English drivers had been different, Lando Norris could have executed a so-called “free stop,” meaning a stop without losing any track position. However, the usual 24-25 second advantage needed for Lando Norris to implement such a strategy never materialized. In fact, the young McLaren driver could have influenced others’ pit stop decisions. Without stopping, no one would have risked pitting before him and ending up behind other cars, thereby losing track position.

Examining the telemetry data regarding the gap between different Formula 1 drivers, we can easily understand the situation just explained. The image shows how the yellow line representing Carlos Sainz has a very fluctuating trend, especially concerning the times in the middle part of the Monaco Grand Prix. The orange line just below indicates Lando Norris’s performance, and it shows how, for most of the race, the two lines “copy” each other. McLaren continued to give suggestions to their drivers, mainly trying to find a combination of tools that could give more rotation to the MCL38.

From the gap graph, we can also clearly see the moment when, in the final part of the F1 Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc began to push under precise team orders. Oscar Piastri undoubtedly tried to keep up with the Monegasque as much as he could, but in a few laps, he had to yield to the Ferrari driver’s impressive pace. This moment is highlighted in the image with a blue circle. As for the race of Max Verstappen and the Mercedes drivers, we can say they marked each other closely.

The pit stop of the seven-time Formula 1 world champion, on lap 44, where Lewis Hamilton chose to switch to Medium tires from Hard, gave the Dutch driver the opportunity to stop as well, performing a free stop, meaning without losing the track position he had maintained until then. The Dutchman then returned to the pit lane to switch to the white-banded Pirelli, with which he managed to push hard in the first laps with clean air. Soon after, however, he had to fall in line behind George Russell despite having a significantly faster pace, which once again shows how difficult it is to overtake on the streets of Monte Carlo, even if the car behind is about two seconds faster.

In terms of numbers, Max Verstappen was on average the fastest in the race, although there are some considerations to make in this regard. First, after his pit stop, he had clean air and could push hard on new Hard tires. Additionally, Charles Leclerc managed his position excellently throughout the race without pushing too much. The Monegasque driver extended his lead at the end, averaging a tenth faster than the two McLaren cars. The same pace was also true for Carlos Sainz, although this type of data is not very indicative on the Monaco circuit.

Source: FUnoanalisitecnica