The 2024 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix saw Scuderia Ferrari grappling with significant challenges in managing race pace and overall weekend performance at the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit, as confirmed by team principal Fred Vasseur. After four podiums and the Australian Grand Prix double, for the first time this season, Ferrari faced difficulties.
Indeed, McLaren outperformed Maranello both in qualifying and the race for the first time. Despite Lando Norris’s struggles in the Sprint and Oscar Piastri’s difficulties during the race, the Woking-based team emerged as the real surprise of the Shanghai weekend.
McLaren’s tire management was much more effective than the one experienced by the Maranello team, which struggled to bring the tires into an optimal temperature range. Normally, the Scuderia has shown strong performances on the yellow compound, and the unexpectedly poor performance on the white compound is certainly something to reflect on.
“We didn’t expect these results. We should have been further ahead from the start. The conservative approach with the yellow tires worked very well, but we encountered unexpected difficulties with the white tires. It was a matter of a few tenths, and we need to understand why the yellow tires performed better and why we struggled,” said Ferrari’s team principal, incredulous but cautiously optimistic at the end of the Chinese Grand Prix.
“The real problem was starting so far back; we absolutely need to improve our position in the standings. Why didn’t we bring updates earlier? The guys at the factory are working hard, and I can’t ask for more. We brought forward some updates, but it’s difficult to introduce anything new with the Sprint format. We pushed hard, but we didn’t extract the best from the car; we need to do better in qualifying. The front row wasn’t out of reach for us, but unfortunately, that’s how it went.” – the French manager pointed out.
“Today, we had a similar race to Sergio Perez and were close to Lando Norris; they just managed the hard tire better than us. It’s not as bad as it seems; we’ll come back stronger. Even the start was challenging, but there were no skirmishes between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Everything was normal. We’ll bring updates that will already improve us from Miami,” Frederic Vasseur concluded.
Source: f1ingenerale
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