Scuderia Ferrari begins preparations for the 17th round of the 2024 Formula 1 championship at the 6.003-kilometre Baku City Circuit, and it will be interesting to see which top team can dominate on the tricky streets of the Azerbaijan circuit. The track presents several challenges: its proximity to barriers, the 90° corners of Sector 1, the tight and very slow turns in the second sector, and the ultra-high-speed sections in the final part of the circuit. For this reason, it will be extremely difficult to find the right aero-mechanical balance that ensures excellent top speed, cornering load, and mechanical grip at low speeds.
Tire management will be crucial, as managing the compounds will play a key role this weekend. As we know, the Ferrari SF-24 car injects less energy into the tire carcass compared to direct rivals, a trait that could complicate warm-up, especially in the qualifying session on Saturday. The warm-up cycle of the tire will need to be closely monitored to avoid falling outside the optimal working range, which could reduce grip from the Pirelli tires. However, for the race on Sunday, Ferrari may benefit from being able to preserve its tires better.
Caution is essential. This is clear from the aerodynamic load Ferrari has chosen for the Baku Grand Prix. It’s the same setup last used in Belgium, which overall worked quite well on the SF-24, especially with a high fuel load. It remains to be seen how the Maranello engineers will manage the car’s limitation in low-speed cornering. They will need to optimize the suspension setup to generate sufficient mechanical grip and minimize losses.
Now let’s take a detailed look at how things unfolded for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in FP1 at the Baku City Circuit through our onboard analysis:
Inside the Ferrari garage, everything is ready for the first free practice session of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Round 17, where the team from Maranello wants to build on its recent positive performances. The weather conditions are good. Here are the details just before the start: 30.7° celsius air temperature, 44.2° celsius track temperature, 37% humidity, and a wind speed of 1.8 kilometers per hour from the southeast. The Ferrari drivers are in their cars, talking with their engineers, waiting for the race director to wave the green flag.
For this first FP1 run, both Ferrari cars leave the pit lane on a set of yellow-banded Pirelli Medium tires. They proceed with Engine 5 settings for the internal combustion engine. For now, DRS will not be used. Several drivers have noted over the radio that grip is currently very low. The gearbox is set to GX3 as usual. The tires are being warmed up, and then it’s time for the push mode. In such cases, caution is always warranted during the first approach to the Baku circuit.
After this initial attempt, the engine revs are increased, switching to Engine 4 mapping, with the option to use the DRS. The Ferrari drivers keep pushing to test the setup chosen at the factory with the Medium tires, which offer consistent performance. After three full laps, the Ferraris take a break to recharge the SF-24’s batteries. In the meantime, the usual handling tips are shared to better manage braking and mid-corner rotation using the differential.
After a brief pause, they return to full attack, this time using maximum hybrid power: SOC 1. This move is quite useful for testing the energy deployment settings from the motor generators, to see how energy is distributed over the lap. Charles Leclerc made a mistake in the final corner, running wide and compromising traction. Carlos Sainz was cleaner, though slower than his Maranello teammate. Shortly after, the first red flag of the weekend was waved due to some metallic debris. As often happens here in Baku, the track was dirty.
A few minutes and they are back on track. Both Ferrari cars are sticking with the same tires to continue the interrupted work. It’s still too early to give a definitive assessment of the Ferrari, but generally speaking, the base balance seems good. This, despite a slight understeer in some corners, likely caused by tires not being up to temperature. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz get serious again, and this time, their approach seems slightly more aggressive. Both attempts are aborted due to small mistakes. The track is very green, which doesn’t help the drivers at all.
In Azerbaijan, one of the key factors is developing a feel for the car, getting as close to the barriers as possible to maximize the use of the track. Charles Leclerc finishes his lap without issues, while Carlos Sainz runs wide in the second sector and is forced to use a runoff area to avoid hitting the barriers. There’s slight aerodynamic bouncing in the final sector, but at the moment, it doesn’t seem to slow the Ferrari cars. The track engineers for the Prancing Horse, Bryan Bozzi and Riccardo Adami, suggest using pre-mapped configurations in certain sections to optimize the SF-24’s performance.
Oversteer on exit is also present in the second sector, due to a lack of rotation in the slow corners. We believe this is mostly due to the green track. A dramatic turn of events: Charles Leclerc hits the wall at Turn 15. The Monegasque struggles with grip, losing traction and locking the front tires. The contact with the barriers is inevitable. Another red flag. Although the track is green, Ferrari is showing its usual difficulty in slow corners. A shame, as the Monegasque driver was going fast. Perhaps he asked a little too much of his SF-24 in these conditions.
Looking at the car, the damage seems limited to the front wing and nose. The front suspension setup doesn’t appear to be damaged., but Charles Leclerc’s session is over, leaving only Carlos Sainz to test the setup of the Italian car. A few minutes later, FP1 resumes with about 25 minutes remaining in the first hour of practice. The Spaniard prepares his outlap well and heads out again on Medium tires, the same ones from previous stints, to gather more data and provide the team with as many references as possible for fine-tuning the car.
While Carlos Sainz was still testing his car to better understand how to improve the handling, the session was halted by a third red flag. This time the interruption was caused by the young Argentine driver Franco Colapinto’s Williams, which lost the rear at Turn 4 due to a lack of grip. His FW46 hit the left side and stopped against the barriers. The Argentine apologized over the radio, while the Ferrari driver, returning to the pits, requested Soft tires for his next run in the SF-24. He also suggested adjusting the front load to manage the balance with the extra grip provided by the red-banded Pirelli tires.
With about 10 minutes left in the session, the Spaniard waits in the pitlane, ready to head back on track. As requested, his car is now fitted with Soft tires. The only car ahead of the Ferrari is George Russell’s, who moves aside, allowing Carlos Sainz to take enough space to launch his lap without any issues. After completing the warm-up, it’s time for push mode. In the first sector, a big correction is needed in Turn 3, due to a lack of rotation that slows the Ferrari. In Turn 16, there’s still oversteer on exit, particularly in the corner leading to the long, high-speed stretch towards the finish line. The lap isn’t great.
Carlos Sainz acknowledges his mistake and the difficulty in hitting the apex in slow-speed corners. After cooling the tires, the Spanish driver tries again but is forced to back off due to a yellow flag. In the final attempt, things don’t change. As expected, the Ferrari struggles at low speeds. The Maranello team will need to continue working on the suspension setup to optimize cornering. It must be said that the track was very green, which undoubtedly exacerbated Ferrari’s problems.
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