The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Imola circuit was rather boring in terms of track action but the race was interesting on a technical level. Scuderia Ferrari, despite the overall result in Italy, demonstrated several qualities with the new SF-24 aerodynamic package. One above all, the car’s ability to generate a lesser amount of drag. This was one of the Maranello team’s main goals, despite the fact that the Ferrari single-seater still shows more resistance to advancement compared to its direct competitors. The step forward is still evident, even though the Imola circuit was not suitable as a layout to optimize the updates. We will know more in the Canadian Grand Prix, considering that Monte Carlo is also an unique track on the Formula 1 calendar.
Let’s move on to a further analysis, the last concerning the Imola race before diving into the various technical details in view of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. We will use telemetry data to delve deeper into the matter and scrutinize the performance of the top competitors on the track that lies along the banks of the Santerno. This examination will allow us to draw some interesting conclusions about the top finishers, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Charles Leclerc, in the seventh round of this 2024 F1 season. Without further ado, let’s move on to the actual analysis.
F1, GP Imola: Ferrari struggles in direction changes
McLaren reaches the Tamburello braking zone with a higher maximum speed on average compared to both competitors, a result of a less loaded setup but mainly due to a different power delivery mode aimed at reducing the clipping phenomenon present on both rival cars. Additionally, the slipstream effect enjoyed by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, consistently less than two seconds behind Lando Norris for the entire stint, helps to partially reduce the speed gap at the end of the straight compared to the Englishman.
On the contrary, Max Verstappen suffers from not having anyone ahead of him, making him the slowest of the three. Entering the Tamburello, the first difficulties of the updated SF-24 car are seen, as had been pointed out by the Monegasque driver in his post-qualifying interview. The braking is significant, and, as often happens, the Ferrari driver is the most incisive, managing to brake later than the others. This element allows him to have a good minimum speed within the chicane. However, as confirmed on Saturday by Charles Leclerc, the problem affecting the first sector of the new SF-24 car throughout the Italian weekend manifests here.
The interpretation of the second part of the chicane is entirely different from the competitors, less aggressive on the inner curb, resulting in lower speed at the center of the corner and an unfavorable racing line for the straight leading to Villeneuve. Red Bull and McLaren behave very similarly, with the Dutch driver slightly better both at the center of the corner and on exit. The setup of the chicane dedicated to the beloved Canadian driver is still deficient for the Maranello car.
Ferrari lags in all phases of the corner compared to the other cars (which are very similar to each other), indicating that the difficulties in direction changes are still present on the SF-24 car, especially with a lot of fuel on board. This concludes the first sector of the track, with the Woking car being generally the fastest in this section, inflicting a gap slightly over half a tenth on the Milton Keynes car and nearly double that on the Maranello car.
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The Tosa is one of the few corners where the three cars are generally equal in this phase of the race. Max Verstappen is generally preferred overall. Before reaching turn 9, the Piratella, a notable situation occurs. The Ferrari is the car that takes it with the lowest minimum speed among the three, contrary to what was seen in both practice sessions and qualifying, where the SF-24 single-seater performed much better than the competitors, recording significantly higher mid-corner speeds.
An aspect that should make us think and could indicate a not yet optimal behavior with a full tank, especially compared to the Dutch driver. Or it could be a symptom of a targeted tire management suggested by the new race engineer Bryan Bozzi. Approaching Acque Minerali, a critical point of the track often the scene of damaging off-track excursions, Ferrari number 16 brakes significantly later (perhaps also driven by a more aggressive power delivery, similar to Max Verstappen) and consequently is penalized a bit on the exit. However, overall this approach gains time for the car.
The MCL38 seems to struggle a bit in the bumpy section that precedes the corner, perhaps due to a phase of battery recharging. The purple sector in the middle is marked by the Red Bull driver, who averages 0.15 seconds ahead of the Englishman and just under 0.2 seconds ahead of the Monegasque, who unexpectedly loses precious time in the sector that had seen him as a protagonist from the early stages of the Imola weekend. The passage through the Variante Gresini, formerly “Variante Alta,” highlights some difficulty for Lando Norris’s McLaren, possibly due to a slightly stiffer setup that rewarded the English team in the fast corners of the first sector.
In this part of the Imola track, the top two teams in the world championship standings are the reference point, with the SF-24 car able to attack the inner curb more compared to the beginning of the lap. The two Rivazza corners do not show particular weaknesses in the cars, with the RB20 of the Dutch driver interpreting them better overall. This brings the advantage accumulated in the last part of the track to just over half a tenth compared to the Ferrari and about double that value compared to the number 4 from Woking.
Overall, the first stint of the race can be summarized with a significant gap inflicted by the three time Formula 1 world champion from Red Bull, with about 0.2 seconds per lap gained on average over Lando Norris and 0.3 seconds over Charles Leclerc. This indicates that with a high amount of fuel on board, the Milton Keynes car is undoubtedly the benchmark even on a more challenging weekend than usual.
The second stint with C3 tires (Hard for the occasion), started by Lando Norris in the McLaren with a pit stop earlier than Max Verstappen in the Red Bull and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari, shows us a general change in the behavior of the cars and the strengths seen previously. The braking at turns 2 and 3 shows an Austrian car achieving a maximum speed comparable to that of the McLaren, with a very similar acceleration curve. This suggests an evident change in strategy for the power delivery along the lap by the RB20.
On the contrary, Ferrari seems to suffer from the same phenomenon experienced in the first stint. A problem lamented by Charles Leclerc after the race and described as “strange,” referring to the engine behavior of the two competing teams on the same section of track. At Tamburello, the problems of the SF-24 reappear, with Charles Leclerc being the least effective among the three in navigating the chicane. Unlike the number 4 car, which seems to behave significantly better in the second stint compared to the Dutch driver, especially in the middle of the corner.
A factor that gives him a good advantage towards the direction change at Villeneuve, where the English driver makes a huge difference compared to the rivals and confirms the quality of the newly evolved car from Andrea Stella’s team, achieving +5 kilometers per hour of minimum speed over the Milton Keynes car and +7 kilometers per hour over the updated SF-24 car. All this while also being the fastest on the exit. The first sector is dominated by McLaren, with a gap that widens compared to the first stint and settles at 0.2 seconds over the rival cars.
At Tosa, the slowest corner of the circuit, Red Bull and Ferrari seem to excel, with the latter performing well in the central sector (not surprisingly with a lighter car) and recovering the speed advantage it was used to having at Piratella. Thus, it is the fastest at that point and carries good speed into Acque Minerali, which seems friendly to all three teams.
The traction exit slightly favors Red Bull, which reaches the second sector timing mark just 0.02 seconds faster than the SF-24 car and about a tenth and a half better than the Woking car, which loses some time compared to the rival cars in this section. The Gresini variant continues to be “unfriendly” to the English driver in terms of minimum speed, while Ferrari is slightly favored. Although Ferrari arrives at the two Rivazza with a lower maximum speed compared to the two contenders (who make good use of electric power at this point), it manages to navigate them with excellent speed.
It launches excellently onto the straight, being the fastest in the final sector, with an advantage of about 0.04 seconds over Lando Norris and about 0.08 seconds over Max Verstappen. This second phase of the race shows a McLaren absolutely in control, with a quiet start to the stint and a more aggressive second part, not far from a Ferrari that overall loses about 0.05 seconds per lap, and a Red Bull that, with empty tanks and hard tires, seemed much more human and attackable. The RB20 is just under a tenth slower than Lando Norris and used all the advantage accumulated in the first stint to finish ahead.
F1, GP Imola: Ferrari learning lessons from Red Bull and McLaren
Under the scrutiny of the most attentive fans will surely be the different use of the battery among the three teams, a point extensively highlighted by Charles Leclerc in pre and post-podium interviews, focusing on the section at the end of the main straight. This will be a point of study for Ferrari in the coming days. McLaren seems to have a truly excellent “electric system” and, as a result, is the fastest in all the straights, with a full acceleration curve all the way to the end of the section, where it also takes advantage of low drag.
Conversely, Ferrari seems the poorest in this aspect, having to ration the electric power throughout its laps. Red Bull, in the second half of the race, seems to have changed the way the electric power was delivered. It did so by choosing a more aggressive push at the end of the main straight and on the descent from the Gresini variant to the first of the two Rivazza, perhaps to prevent the pursuers (especially Lando Norris) from entering the drag reduction system zone.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
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