On the eve of the Dutch Grand Prix, the two Ferrari drivers did not hide that the Zandvoort race could prove difficult for the SF-24 cars. Indeed, the first day back after the summer break turned out to be a rude awakening, with Charles Leclerc only ninth at the end of the qualifying simulations and also lagging on long runs, although he encountered a bit of traffic at times. Carlos Sainz’s day was far more complicated, as he was forced to stop after a few laps in the second free practice session due to a technical issue with the gearbox.
Difficulties that, however, were somehow expected, not only because the trend seen in recent races was that of a Ferrari struggling more compared to McLaren and Red Bull, but also because the 4.259-kilometre Circuit Zandvoort is not the best suited to showcase the qualities of the SF-24 single-seater.
A déjà-vu, also because 12 months ago Zandvoort was precisely the race where the “revival” of the Scuderia began: although the weekend turned out to be disappointing in terms of overall performance, partly due to similar reasons to those currently affecting this year’s car, the Maranello engineers conducted some tests that later proved useful during development.
The nature of the very long, high-downforce corners, with medium-high-speed sections where support and stability are needed, especially where great precision is required while braking during the rotation phase, has once again highlighted the limits of the Maranello project, as they await more updates which are expected for the upcoming races, starting with the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit.
Charles Leclerc’s words clearly explain a complex situation for a weekend that even Team Principal Vasseur has essentially described as a defensive one, in an attempt to maximize the result, but it is clear that it will take much more than one of the Monegasque’s “magic tricks” to try to turn the situation around.
Charles Leclerc indicated that he would try to do something special in qualifying but acknowledged that they were currently too far behind to achieve anything significant. He added that if they managed to close the gap to within two or three tenths, there might be something they could do; otherwise, he anticipated a difficult weekend at the Zandvoort circuit.
Looking at the data, there are two critical areas that truly put Ferrari in crisis, which are most evident in the second sector. In turn seven, it’s noticeable how Charles Leclerc is one of the few drivers to use the brakes, resulting in a lower speed through the corner. The impression is that the Monegasque driver tends to sacrifice the entry to have a more manageable and controllable car at the center of the corner, then tries to minimize the gap on the exit with his “classic” style of modulating the throttle, which is less pronounced than that of his rivals.
This pattern repeats in turn 8 and, consequently, in the approach to braking for turn 9, one of the most complex on the entire track. As previously seen, the Monegasque driver is unable to carry much speed into the corner to avoid struggling excessively in the middle of it. Here, the lack of aerodynamic downforce of the SF-24 becomes apparent, which, in any case, had already shown more issues in fast and very long corners compared to McLaren and Red Bull.
Additionally, there’s difficulty in the combined phase, which refers to those sections where the driver needs to start braking with the steering wheel already engaged in the rotation phase to set up the corner. The most obvious example is the braking for turn nine, where the Ferrari cannot be as sharp, needing to start decelerating earlier to avoid arriving too “on the edge” at the center of the corner, risking understeer.
For a driver like Charles Leclerc, who has often made braking efficiency one of his strengths, this limitation of the SF-24 car has a double impact: on one hand, it prevents him from exploiting one of his best skills, and on the other, it forces him to play with the throttle to try to cover up the weaknesses. However, at Zandvoort, these two elements combine in an even more visible way, highlighting the weaknesses of the Maranello project. The goal for the night is to work on the setup to try to reduce the gaps seen in practice, while also keeping an eye on the weather, which could bring some surprises.
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