This year in Monaco, it’s particularly hard to pinpoint a favorite for the important qualifying session and the key battle for taking pole position. Slow corners are the dominant feature of the Monegasque track, where Red Bull has seemed to make a difference since the start of the 2024 Formula 1 year and where McLaren has improved with the recent updates introduced in the Miami Grand Prix weekend. It’s a different story for Scuderia Ferrari, which has continued to struggle with low speed corners since the beginning of the season, losing that agility in slow corners that was the strength of the 2023 Formula 1 project. Yet, according to some simulations, the SF-24 is credited as the fastest car in the Principality, a prediction that is reflected in the confidence shown by its representatives. Ferrari is aware that it doesn’t have competitiveness in slow corners on its side, but the many nuances in preparing for the Monaco race keep the team in the game.
Mechanical performance in the spotlight
Carlos Sainz’s statements during the Thursday press conference are interesting. The Spaniard emphasizes how the SF-24 indeed struggles in low-speed corners, but at the same time, in Monaco, mechanical grip offered by the suspension is crucial. Slow corners on permanent racetracks, typically taken between 100 and 120 kilometers per hour where aerodynamics continue to have a tangible effect, differ from the 50 km/h hairpins of the Principality, where the quality of the mechanics fully emerges.
Furthermore, the SF-24 single-seater shows a good aeromechanical compromise on street circuits. It limits load losses at higher ground clearances forced by bumps and curbs of city tracks, while simultaneously stabilizing the vertical oscillations of the floor without overly stiffening the suspension, thus ensuring a good level of aerodynamic load. In Monte Carlo, moreover, all corners fall within a restricted speed range compared to usual, facilitating the search for balance compared to other tracks, where slow corners are often sacrificed to enhance competitiveness in fast corners.
All teams are in search of downforce, so another anomaly of the race in the Principality is the level of aerodynamic load imposed on the cars, among the highest of the entire Formula 1 season. Red Bull won the 2023 edition, but the world champions’ car did not stand out for maximum aerodynamic load, a choice also maintained for its successor. In the development of the RB20 car in Milton Keynes, they continue to avoid chasing record-breaking aerodynamic load peaks, preferring a broader operational window with which to reduce lap times. A philosophy that, while normally rewarding, risks backfiring in Monaco.
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In contrast, Ferrari has shown excellent levels of aerodynamic load, sometimes at the cost of not having as exceptional straight-line speed as was the case in the 2023 Formula 1 championship. It should also be considered how changing the aerodynamic configuration does not leave the performance of the single-seater unchanged, with the possibility of gaining or losing competitiveness compared to rivals. Much will also depend on the effectiveness of the new rear wings, debuting on all cars for the race in the Principality.
The example used by Fernando Alonso to explain the atypical nature of the event on the French Riviera is emblematic: “In the past, I have come here with very competitive cars that proved not to be fast here and vice versa.” A statement that summarizes the importance of preparation and tuning for the Monaco race. It is no coincidence that Ferrari has spent the last few weeks understanding the reasons for the lack of competitiveness in the last edition, despite a theoretically very agile SF-23 in slow corners and effective in traction.
The early 2023 SF-23 was a terribly temperamental car, unpredictable, difficult to drive, and one that deprived Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc of the confidence necessary in order to push to the limits of the Monte Carlo walls. The complete opposite is true this time for the SF-24 car, which has significantly grown in drivability thanks to combined work on the aerodynamic map and new mechanics, celebrated in the Monaco paddock even by the team principal of the client team, Haas. In summary, Ferrari may not be the favorite for the Monaco Grand Prix, but ruling it out from the fight for victory would certainly be a mistake, one that neither Red Bull nor McLaren seem inclined to make.
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