The first day of free practice in Japan was influenced by the rain that fell in the afternoon before and during the second session, the one where usually something more can be understood about the field values ahead of the rest of the weekend.
Unfortunately, in the second free practice session, the Suzuka track turned into a middle ground that satisfied no one: too wet to consider slicks, at least until the very last minutes, but also too dry to try to continuously run on intermediates, given the risk of damaging a set that could be useful in the upcoming sessions.
At Ferrari, no major updates have been brought, except for small things, so the car has remained essentially almost identical to what was seen in past events, but this doesn’t mean there is not much left to try in terms of setups and configurations. The hope is that tomorrow in FP3, it doesn’t rain again, giving the opportunity to complete those experiments planned for today.
Going backward, indeed, in the morning session, Ferrari mainly ran with the hard compound, with the first setup tests and data collection, then moved to a single attempt on the soft compound, too little to draw definitive conclusions about the potential of the Scuderia. The interesting aspect is that Ferrari was one of the few teams to diversify work with more fuel on board: Carlos Sainz ran with the softer compound, while Charles Leclerc again used the harder one. It’s also about understanding which compounds are most suitable and which ones perform best in these temperatures, which are currently about fifteen degrees cooler than last year concerning the asphalt.
In general, it’s clear that the attention of the Italian side must focus more on those aspects that last year had represented a big limitation, such as performance in the first sector, and it’s exactly there that engineers want to understand the progress and find a good balance.
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If understeer or oversteer is experienced in the fast sequence that characterizes the first sector, the risk is to find oneself out of the window with the tires for the rest of the lap. This doesn’t mean that attention hasn’t also been paid from a driving point of view in other parts of the track, such as the second part of the “Spoon” and the entry into the final chicane.
Turn 14, better known by the name “Spoon,” represents one of the most complex sections of the track, as it includes a slight camber that tends to take the car off track: even in this case, the challenge is to carry a lot of speed through it but without experiencing too much understeer.
The first impressions for Carlos Sainz are still positive, although it will be important to confirm the work tomorrow when realistically both the single-lap run in search of time, an aspect not to be underestimated at Suzuka, and a long stint on the long distance to understand degradation will be combined. All this, of course, provided that the last free practice session remains dry.
“Perhaps in FP1, we were a bit closer to the Red Bulls; we had positive feelings after the progress made in the last five months, since the last time we came to Suzuka. But we only ran in FP1, where we don’t know the amount of fuel or the engine maps with which the other teams ran. However, we try to stay within a few tenths,” explained Carlos Sainz at the end of Friday’s free practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix.
According to the Spaniard, Red Bull is still a step ahead, which is expected on a circuit that, at least on paper, should enhance what are the strengths of the RB20, which has good downforce and a stable platform responsive to high speeds, as already shown in Jeddah and Melbourne. The idea is to keep McLaren behind, which has emerged as one of the most formidable rivals for the Scuderia: “I think it will be a close fight with McLaren and Mercedes, and Red Bull is still a step ahead, but it should be an interesting battle.” – he pointed out.
“It’s not a very different situation from how I felt in Australia; I was very confident in Bahrain, Jeddah, and Australia. Here at Suzuka this morning, thanks also to the work done during the last winter, we understood the car and how to set it up. It seems that everything works, the car is better this year, which helps.” – the Spanish driver concluded.
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