Ferrari tried their best in the eleventh round of the F1 World Championship dedicated to the Sprint Race. We are referring to the 100 kilometer race where grid cars compete for points. An event strongly desired by Liberty Media, who, with their wallet in hand, decided to propose this particular format to keep viewers glued to their screens on Saturdays. In fact, the reasoning of the American owners makes sense, as the free practice sessions often bore fans, whereas the chance to see cars race always appeals even to less attentive supporters.
Ferrari had a moral obligation to perform well at the 4.318-kilometre Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. They needed to shake up a weekend that started very poorly, where once again, like in Spain, the basic setup of the Maranello cars caused significant trouble for drivers, technicians, and engineers. The hope of performing better with a full tank of fuel was there, as in the only free practice session on Friday, the two SF-24 cars, despite only completing 6 laps in high fuel simulation, showed very good pace and incredibly low tire wear.
As mentioned, it was not easy to overturn the car’s performance without adjusting the setup. Minor adjustments to the front axle to balance the load are insufficient. Therefore, the hope of changing the situation was mainly entrusted to the behavior of the Ferrari with a lot of fuel and, simultaneously, to the skill of the drivers in seizing every small opportunity. This was certainly the case for Charles Leclerc, who made a rocket start that allowed him to gain three positions in three corners, by overtaking the two Alpine cars and the Red Bull RB20 of Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz also started well, although the position gained over George Russell was lost during the race.
For the Austrian mini race, all drivers chose to use the yellow-banded Pirelli. The Medium tire undoubtedly stands out as the best compound that can satisfy the compromise required by the sprint: durability as well as performance. In the initial laps, the McLaren cars showed very good pace. Over the course of the stint, it may happen because we are talking about F1 cars, MCL38 and RB20, which have similar performances but “ignite” the tires differently. For this reason, Lando Norris attempted an attack in turn 3.
Therefore, Red Bull did not immediately find the usual pace to build a sufficient safety gap. Max Verstappen was thus forced to defend himself by staying out of Lando Norris’s DRS zone, a factor that forced the Dutchman to use extra power on the straights. This aspect is related to the power unit, which led to clipping at the end of the straights. Once the world champion brought the Red Bull tires up to temperature, he began to pull away from the two McLarens, which in fact had a slightly slower absolute pace than the Austrian car in the hands of the Dutchman.
For Ferrari, it was a one-way race. Without a pace superior to the frontrunners and starting from the back, it was difficult for the Italian cars to achieve a better result. The two SF-24 cars were forced to perform a lot of lift and coast, not to mention the headache regarding the braking system. The disc temperatures were too high, and managing them meant limiting performance during braking. To get the tires to work properly, the Ferrari team tried various changes of the settings.
We refer to the mid-corner differential and braking balance. There is also another issue to consider: significant oversteer. The rear lightened under certain conditions, causing excess rotation on corner exits just when a car needs to open, not close, the racing line. The lack of rear load could cause problems tomorrow when there are many more laps. Rear tires that could struggle in traction points, generating wheel-spin, a phenomenon that raises temperatures on the rear end.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
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