Scuderia Ferrari had another disappointing Formula 1 weekend, this time at the 4.657-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the Spanish Grand Prix. While different from the disastrous experience in the Canadian Grand Prix, it was still a letdown. Beyond the unexpected performances, given that the Maranello team believed they could fight for the race victory in Barcelona, the drivers’ issue also took center stage. There’s no need to create too much controversy, yet it’s evident that Carlos Sainz did not “obey” team orders and effectively surprised Charles Leclerc with an overtaking move in the start of the race. It’s hard to say if this scenario compromised the Monegasque’s race. Let’s leave it at that for now, we’ll get back to this topic later.
Now let’s talk about Red Bull. The RB20 is no longer capable of dominating, but Max Verstappen makes up for it, as the world champion is able to lead the Austrian team to yet another triumph. He did so by beating a super competitive Lando Norris who didn’t fully exploit the potential of his MCL38 single-seater. This is a very strong F1 car that, for various reasons, isn’t reaping the rewards of the excellent work done in the factory. Meanwhile, Mercedes is on the rise, skillfully taking advantage of Ferrari’s underwhelming weekend to beat them.
Red Bull excels with fuel load, Ferrari slower in managing temperatures
With the help of telemetry data, we can analyze the average speed in the first stint of the race in various sections of the track. At the start, all the top drivers were on the softest compound for better grip. The soft tire helps manage the temperature increase caused by lateral sliding, allowing the drivers to push while containing degradation. In turns 4 and 5, the two Red Bulls were the best, despite the track position of car number 11 significantly disadvantaging the Mexican driver.
Max Verstappen took advantage of a perfectly balanced car, maintaining the tires in the correct window by leveraging the downforce provided by the floor and rear wing. This allowed him to make a difference over Lando Norris. The Dutchman was the strongest in the section between turns 10 and 12 where, conversely, Ferrari confirmed the difficulties encountered throughout the weekend. The acceleration of the SF-24 in this section was not optimal. The drivers had to manage the rear axle of their car differently. A similar situation occurred in turns 4 and 5, where engineers repeatedly asked the drivers for “easy traction” to conserve the tires.
In the final section of the race, with cars having lighter fuel loads, we observe different values compared to the first part of the race. McLaren carries more speed into the corners by taking advantage of the lighter fuel load. Oscar Piastri is generally faster than his teammate, although he was relegated to seventh position behind the two Ferrari cars. Unlike earlier, Lando Norris has a smaller speed gap compared to Max Verstappen. This difference in favor of the English driver allowed him to close in on the world champion, finishing, as in Canada, just over two seconds behind at the finish line.
Mercedes remains strong in turn 4. The wide-radius turn that opens the middle sector requires front-end stiffness capable of facilitating acceleration with the steering angle, limiting understeer. The aero-mechanical compromise found by the Mercedes team allowed their drivers to increase mid-corner speed and accelerate more smoothly.
Ferrari is slower than its direct competitors throughout the cornering phase. Even with a lighter fuel load, the Ferrari drivers had to be more conservative in order to avoid taking the tires out of the ideal usage window and causing degradation. The Italian team’s choice at the start of the weekend may have been a disadvantage in this respect. The Ferrari cars hit the track with a less aggressive aerodynamic setup compared to their rivals. This certainly impacted cornering performance, where Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc had to be more cautious.
DRS analysis: Mercedes and Ferrari optimize top speeds, McLaren and Red Bull favor corners
Lastly, let’s examine the top speeds at the end of the main straight throughout the Spanish Grand Prix. Following what has been mentioned, the excellent top speeds of the Ferrari drivers, both with the wing open and closed, are not surprising. Similar values were observed for Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion opted for a slightly different hybrid strategy compared to his Mercedes teammate, allowing him to reach the end of the straight with a few more kilometers per hour. Additionally, a slightly less aggressive setup for the future Ferrari driver cannot be ruled out.
Lower top speeds for Red Bull and McLaren result from a more aggressive setup designed in order to maximize cornering performance. The greater downforce benefited these two teams. The ability to push more in the circuit’s direction changes made a significant difference in overall race pace. In the first stint, Lando Norris was unable to overtake George Russell precisely due to lower top speeds. However, once he had a clear track, the Miami winner significantly improved his pace, making a difference particularly in the cornering phases.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
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