Ferrari once again encountered difficulties during a Formula 1 qualifying session. And yet, the first day of track action at the 5.513-kilometre Circuit of The Americas in Austin had started in the best possible way for the Scuderia in Texas. During the only practice session, due to the Sprint Race format, the Italian team quickly dialed in the base setup, showing that the preparation work done in the simulator in the preceding weeks had been well optimized. However, the initial handling was not perfect: in the first laps, the car exhibited pronounced oversteer, especially in turns 11 and 12, while the balance seemed more stable in the “snake” section of the first sector.
The third sector, characterized by lower average speeds, was where the car appeared the most balanced, and this is where the team focused their efforts, trying to improve traction in slow corners. Aerodynamically, Ferrari immediately confirmed the package in use. The rear wing brought to the track was the medium-high downforce one already seen at Circuit de Catalunya in the Spanish Grand Prix last June, one of the highest downforce configurations available. The main plane features a significant frontal area and a pronounced leading edge across the entire width of the profile.
Ahead of the Sprint Shootout, Ferrari made some adjustments to the setup to shift the overall balance toward the rear. They also made changes to the ride height. This move improved stability in medium-speed corners but consequently made the car more unstable in the “snake” section, where some oversteer occurred mid-corner, with the rear end tending to lighten. This behavior wasn’t always consistent, only manifesting under certain conditions. Now, let’s talk about the tires.
For Ferrari, there is a noticeable difficulty in getting the Soft tires up to temperature, particularly in the first sector. In general, it was clear that the SF-24 struggled to bring the tires into the ideal temperature window, resulting in the first sector being tackled with tires colder than the target temperature. Over the course of the lap, the tire gradually warmed up, reaching its optimum in the third sector, where the car found a lot of mechanical grip. Charles Leclerc confirmed he didn’t have a good feeling with the Soft tires. It’s likely that the warm-up strategy for the compound wasn’t the right one.
As for Mercedes, Andrew Shovlin expressed mixed feelings about the German team’s first day on track. Despite some positives, there was a certain frustration because Lewis Hamilton was on course to take pole position, but his lap was compromised by a yellow flag caused by an off-track incident involving Williams driver Franco Colapinto, relegating him to seventh place on the grid. George Russell, despite not feeling as comfortable with the car as Lewis Hamilton, still managed to secure second place, showing clear progress.
Overall, we can say that they made better use of the soft tire compared to Ferrari. The W15 single-seater was very strong in the initial sector, where they had suffered many problems in the first free practice session for the United States Grand Prix. We saw a lot of bouncing in the snake section, so much so that Hamilton even spun out. The team communicated the optimization work on the setup with a very low ride height, gradually raising the car afterward. Andrew Shovlin also emphasized that the new upgrade package introduced seems to be working well, bringing the expected improvements.
Finally, a few words about Red Bull, which finally returned to pole position with Max Verstappen. This was a precise response to all the recent controversies regarding the T-Tray device, which can rapidly adjust ride height. During the first practice session, it was evident that the car was well-balanced, especially in the first sector, where the RB20 performed strongly in the high-speed corners of the snake. Both drivers said they felt comfortable with the car’s balance, and we saw it on track.
The Austrian team followed a slightly different program compared to the other teams, using the soft tires early on a track that was still evolving (as often happens), but the car’s balance was still encouraging. Some minor issues appeared at low speeds in the third sector of the Circuit of the Americas, where there was a noticeable degree of bouncing. However, overall, Red Bull found a good balance between high and low speeds and was able to “fire up” the soft tires effectively. An aspect that, in the end, always proves very important in Formula 1.
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