Ferrari performed poorly in the qualifying session for the 2024 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix: Carlos Sainz crashed at the start of Q3, while Charles Leclerc had no time due to an error in turn 1. This was undoubtedly the worst way to approach tomorrow’s race. It’s a real shame because the Ferrari cars had confirmed good overall balance, which inspired confidence, especially for the Monegasque driver. The handling tends towards oversteer, which, while causing some small issues, helps rotation in the middle of the corner. The key to making the most of this setup is carefully managing the surface temperature of the rear tires.
To do this, one must avoid excessive wheel spin during acceleration or corrections when exiting corners. Just a few degrees of difference can lead to overheating, reducing the available grip of the compound. In the last practice sessions, Ferrari was far behind McLaren, having adopted a different strategy for warm-up, trying to create a different hysteresis process. The goal was to arrive in the third sector with the rear compounds under the maximum temperature limit. However, in the final section of the track, they often lost time due to excessive overheating of the rear.
Moving on to qualifying, during the last attempt in Q3, there was a lot of confusion at Ferrari, especially regarding driver management. Carlos Sainz hit the barriers, while his Maranello teammate wanted to be the last to complete his lap. The Monegasque reported that he left the pits with a significant temperature deficit on the front. We are talking about about 10°C, which is considerable. This shortfall is attributed to the team, which failed to heat the tires properly in the blankets. The tires lost further degrees during the pit stop before heading out.
Once on track, in an attempt to raise the front temperatures, overheating took hold of the rear. Therefore, the lap began with thermal imbalance. In the first corner, Charles Leclerc made a mistake while trying to carry more speed through the center of the corner, but the tires obviously didn’t respond as expected. During the lap, although there were no major mistakes, Charles was unable to maximize grip due to the worsening imbalance. One of the identified limitations is the behavior of the Ferrari on curbs, where McLaren has a clear advantage.
The British car can almost fully exploit the inside curb, maintaining a better racing line for the next section. Ferrari drivers, on the other hand, couldn’t use it too much without risking destabilizing the car, a clear benefit for the MCL38. The English car has excellent balance between the two axles and, especially, very solid traction that made a difference. At that point, the correct management of warm-up strategy and tire compound during the dry lap becomes crucial. Lando Norris delivered an excellent performance.
Conversely, Oscar Piastri slipped back slightly in the last Q3 attempt, while Max Verstappen unexpectedly improved significantly. Yesterday, Red Bull faced several issues, even radically changing the setup, as they struggled to find the optimal operating window for the RB20 on bumpy tracks. Instead of chasing their rivals, they opted for a more standard setup, increasing stiffness to lower the floor and maximize aerodynamic grip. This move didn’t help the Dutch driver much in reaching his goal today.
Mercedes also achieved an unexpected result after struggling during the final qualifying phases of the season. Today’s qualifying was heavily influenced by tire management, as we understood, and the final standings primarily depended on how each team managed the compounds. The warm-up cycle and proper execution of warm-up were decisive in extracting maximum performance due to the level of grip achieved.
In the last attempt, both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen managed to get the red tires working better, maintaining temperature in all four corners of the car for longer during their fast laps. Piastri had a front row in his sights but couldn’t put together all the sectors. Charles Leclerc could have finished in sixth position without the error in turn 1, but there was definitely potential to aim for the front while maximizing tire use.
— see video above —
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