For different reasons, the last three events have seen an underperforming Ferrari, transitioning from the victory in Monaco on an undoubtedly atypical circuit to the role of the fourth force. While in Canada, it could be assumed that it was a problem of poor setup optimization, mainly due to the changing track conditions that did not allow Ferrari to extract the maximum from the SF-24, the last two races presented different and much more concerning issues.
In Spain, Ferrari introduced a new aerodynamic package aimed at increasing overall downforce. Although this indeed brought improvements in some areas, other problems emerged, as admitted by the drivers during the Austrian weekend, including the return of bouncing in very fast corners where stability and support are crucial.
In Barcelona, this issue was evident in turn 9 and turn 14, the two fastest sections of the Catalan track, but the problem also reappeared in Austria, a circuit where, due to its aero-mechanical characteristics, the phenomenon should have had less impact on performance. Instead, the bouncing severely limited the SF-24’s performance and forced the team to make compromises on the setup to try to counter the problem.
This is something Ferrari is clearly aware of, especially the drivers, as such annoying bouncing can cause discomfort in the car and, more importantly, erode the confidence of those in the cockpit. On the other hand, as soon as they became aware of the problem, the engineers immediately started working on how to solve this annoying phenomenon, particularly because it appeared during one of the most challenging triple-headers of the season. In the early races of the year, bouncing had never occurred, even on challenging tracks with fast corners, only to make its appearance from Barcelona onwards.
This weekend, Formula 1 will move to Silverstone, perhaps the circuit with the highest number of high-speed corners. Given the issues that emerged not only in Barcelona but also at the Red Bull Ring, these elements suggest that the English weekend could also be a very tough test for the SF-24.
Silverstone is indeed full of medium-high speed corners, such as Abbey-Farm, Copse, and Stowe. However, on the other hand, there is also the Maggots-Becketts-Chapel sequence where, although the first part is generally taken flat out, excessive bouncing could undermine the drivers’ confidence, especially for setting up the second part and navigating Chapel.
According to Carlos Sainz, however, Ferrari is working hard behind the scenes to understand how to make the best use of this package and to make changes that allow them to extract more from the Maranello car even in such a complex setting. It should not be forgotten that there are also some medium and low-speed sections, such as Village corner or the final chicane, which means the car cannot be set up with just certain characteristics.
“I see that in the factory they are pushing to the maximum to understand the problems we’ve had in the last two weekends and to try to bring a package to Silverstone that allows us to get better performance in high-speed corners because that’s clearly our weak point,” said the Spanish driver at the end of the race, emphasizing that the problem is not only the bouncing but also the pure performance in high-speed corners, an issue that had already been observed in other races this season. At the beginning of the championship, in fact, the Ferrari had shown to be lacking not only compared to Red Bull but also to McLaren in the fastest corners: a gap already present but then accentuated by the return of bouncing.
“Max was much faster, but not only Max; Mercedes and McLaren were also a step ahead of us in those types of corners. And we know that Silverstone is the king of high speed, so we have to take a step forward. Obviously, we want to be competitive. And we will fight with all our might and try to find everything we can, excuse me, to be more competitive there.” – Carlos Sainz pointed out.
“In the race, the problem is less because the speed in high-speed corners is lower, so the bouncing is less. But yes, obviously, if you have it in qualifying, you have to set up the car differently for qualifying, and then you probably pay the price in the race. It’s not an ideal situation. It doesn’t make you do well in qualifying and doesn’t make you do well in the race.”
“In the last two weekends, we’ve talked a lot about bouncing, which shows that it’s been a bit of an issue, but I think there are also other things we need to improve to at least beat Mercedes at Silverstone and try to close the gap to McLaren and Red Bull.” – the Spanish driver concluded ahead of the British Grand Prix weekend.
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