Scuderia Ferrari leaves Sochi with a sixth place courtesy of Charles Leclerc and a 13th with Sebastian Vettel, after a relatively straightforward race, apart from two incidents on the opening lap that brought out the Safety Car. Starting from tenth, Charles soon found himself eighth, after Carlos Sainz hit the barriers at turn 2 and Lance Stroll spun after a collision with the Monegasque. From then on, he did a perfect job of managing the tyres, which was the key to his race. Leclerc was actually the third from last driver to make his stop on lap 29, going from Medium to Hard. Charles ran at a consistent pace and made no mistakes, thus making up two more places, getting ahead of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, to finish sixth behind Daniel Ricciardo.
The Maranello team brought a small aero update which seemed to have a positive effect on the performance of the SF1000 in Sochi. According to German automobile magazine ‘Auto Motor und Sport’, more downforce at the rear means that Scuderia Ferrari no longer has to give up so much downforce at the front to balance the car. Then the drivers could also steer aggressively into the corners again. Which would help Sebastian Vettel above all.
At the same time, AMuS reports that if Ferrari can confirm the data from their wind tunnel at the Nürburgring (new floor upgrade), Mattia Binotto says that Ferrari will work on the diffuser area, where they see the biggest development potential.
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