A complicated qualifying session for Ferrari in England, but it is nothing unexpected. The Silverstone circuit is not suited to the SF-24 seen on Saturday. The Maranello team arrived here in the worst possible conditions, so it was never going to be easy to achieve a great result. Charles Leclerc was eliminated in the transition from Q2 to Q3, while Carlos Sainz finished seventh and will start from the fourth row in today’s British Grand Prix.
On Friday, the Ferrari drivers used two different aerodynamic configurations: not just two different wings, but they compared the new and the old aerodynamic package, which includes sidepods and the floor. According to team principal Frederic Vasseur, the new aerodynamic package generated too many complications to be used, so they took a step back and returned to using the old configuration. However, Carlos Sainz continued to complain, not having a good feeling at all.
The two drivers had small differences in wing angles and ride heights. The engineers wanted to find a middle ground that could bring benefits both on the straights and in the corners. Overall, several factors impacted Ferrari’s performance in the qualifying session, resulting in such a negative outcome. The weather conditions did not favor the optimal use of the SF-24’s tires: normally they do not put excess energy into the tire carcass, so in cooler conditions, they struggle to maintain the ideal temperature, both surface and internal. This is similar to Red Bull, which we will discuss later.
F1, Ferrari: overnight work to limit oversteer
On Friday, Ferrari had excessive rotation in high-speed corners. A decidedly unstable and detrimental condition for lap time. Overnight, they did everything possible to mitigate this chronic oversteer, seeking a new setup in the Maranello simulator. The aerodynamic balance was shifted slightly towards the rear to limit rear-end sliding.
However, this work still unbalanced the car, leading to more understeer at high speeds, but this type of behavior makes the car more stable compared to oversteer. For this reason, time was lost in the Becketts sequence, where there are many fast corners in succession. A worse racing line in one corner results in a suboptimal line in the next turn. This partly explains the four-tenths lost in turn 2. In the first and third sectors, the damage was contained, also considering that in slow corners Ferrari found a satisfactory balance, which, as mentioned, was lacking at high speeds.
McLaren, on the other hand, did not optimize their performance on track. Partly due to the car, but also due to the drivers: both messed up their final attempt, throwing away a front-row start. The car was more oversteering at low speeds, possibly because the rear was stiffened to optimize the fast sections. In all the wide radius corners, they were very fast, a characteristic of the MCL38 single-seater.
Mercedes, in part, had a similar balance. At low speeds, there was excess rotation, but they still managed to do well in traction. In terms of suspension, they found an excellent compromise to ensure mechanical grip and make the floor work well in high-speed corners. The factor that once again seems to have made the difference for the Silver Arrows is the temperatures. The W15 takes a significant step forward when temperatures drop by a few degrees. On Saturday, remember, the track surface was less than 22°C.
Even at Red Bull, the result was not optimized. In this case, however, the performance was limited by damage to Max Verstappen’s floor, which the team believes cost about three-tenths. Regardless, several points of downforce were lost, with which the Dutchman found himself a bit lost. The team noticed a reversal in balance. There was much more understeer, which seems to have been limited by increasing the front wing angle. This, of course, negatively affected the minimum speeds at high speeds.
At the micro-sector level, we immediately notice how Mercedes did better than McLaren on the straights. This is why we can say that on Saturday the Brackley team managed to find an excellent aerodynamic compromise, producing good downforce without paying too much in terms of drag. High efficiency ultimately widens the setup window.
In the first sector, Ferrari was very solid with Carlos Sainz. At the braking of turn 3, he did an excellent job on entry but then lost out on exit. Up to that point, the SF-24 was on the level of the McLaren, just behind George Russell’s Mercedes. Much of the gap accumulated at turn 6 on entry, where the Spaniard had a lot of understeer. Here, the Ferrari SF-24 of Carlos Sainz lost a lot without recovering much in the rest of the lap. We are talking about a good two and a half tenths.
At medium speeds, Red Bull seemed very competitive. In turn 8, Max Verstappen managed to keep a very tight line, while the others had to take a more “V”-shaped racing line. Here, Max Verstappen gained a lot, virtually going under George Russell’s time. In traction, Mercedes proved to be excellent, optimizing speed along the stretch leading to turn 9 (Copse) and then to Becketts.
In the famous sequence of corners, the SF-24 loses about a tenth. Significant losses, however, are concentrated at turn 14, because the drivers arrive wide on entry due to understeer. There alone, another tenth is lost. Finally, at turn 15, Carlos Sainz leaves at least another tenth on the table. In the last two corners, the gap then remains constant.
Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
