Ferrari made small progress in the Brazil GP Sprint, but Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished the short race with more questions than answers. Leclerc secured fifth place after overtaking Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin only in the final laps, while Hamilton ended seventh behind the Spanish driver. Both Maranello drivers complained about the SF-25’s low top speed, which made overtaking Alonso extremely difficult despite using DRS. The team plans to intervene before qualifying to address the issues exposed in the Sprint.
Leclerc: “Extra downforce doesn’t explain the gap on the straights”
On a Saturday that started with a high chance of rain, Ferrari approached the Sprint with an aerodynamic setup slightly heavier than their main rivals. The track was only damp in some sections, revealing a deficit in top speed caused by this choice. Charles Leclerc explained that this alone did not account for the difficulties faced during the morning session at Interlagos: “This weekend has been very challenging. Unfortunately, we have a problem with both cars that we still cannot fully explain. We are losing a lot of time on the straights. We carry more aerodynamic load than the others, but that doesn’t justify the gap we see on the straights, so something is wrong.”
The Monegasque hopes Ferrari can turn the weekend around as they did recently in Austin, starting with a qualifying session he expects to be better than Friday’s Sprint: “I hope we will understand the problem before qualifying. We’re not where we want to be, but I don’t think it can be much worse than yesterday.”
Hamilton: “Our top speed is really low”
At the start, Ferrari chose different tyre strategies for the two drivers: Softs for Charles Leclerc, Mediums for Lewis Hamilton. The decision seemed advantageous for the Briton, who quickly climbed from eleventh to eighth at the start, but the red flag caused by incidents in the same lap at the Senna S of Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg, and Franco Colapinto neutralized this potential gain.
Hamilton reflected on the Sprint, admitting he enjoyed the first eight laps despite the setbacks: “The conditions were difficult, but I made up positions and enjoyed it. My start was really good. Then the red flag neutralized everything because up to that point I had a solid pace. Everyone had fresh tyres, and it became difficult to overtake.”
Regarding overtaking difficulties, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion added: “We have balance issues with the car. Our top speed is really low, which is why we can’t overtake. We need to figure out how to handle this for qualifying.”
Ferrari plans major changes ahead of qualifying
The drier-than-expected weather rendered the high downforce setup chosen for the Sprint unnecessary. Combined with an overly soft chassis and ride height, this caused extra drag that penalized the SF-25 on the straights. Considering the Sprint result, Ferrari’s focus shifted to analysing the data to implement significant setup changes before qualifying. Potential solutions include adjusting the aerodynamic configuration and stiffness settings to address the issues revealed during the Sprint, according to autoracer.it/
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