The Austrian Grand Prix ended with a podium that satisfied Ferrari, but not Charles Leclerc. Indeed, in Formula 1, the 27-year-old doesn’t like finishing behind others. Once again, the Monegasque driver knew he could not have done more, which is why, after a flawless race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, seeing McLaren out of reach was frustrating. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, seemed more upbeat, partly because he has long been thinking about next season. Nevertheless, he admitted he still has not found full confidence with the Ferrari. So let’s once again take a look at what happened in Austria.
The leading group opted for the medium tyre at the start, a choice driven by the intention to extend the first stint. The yellow-banded Pirelli tyre allowed for better rear temperature control. The Red Bull Ring features a high macro-roughness surface, but tyre degradation was not extreme, as the forces exerted on the rubber are moderate. The issue came from thermal management, particularly at the rear. Rear slippage during traction phases created serious challenges in keeping the back of the car cool. From the first laps, it was clear the McLarens had a much stronger pace. The fight was between them, with Ferrari immediately out of the battle.
In the very early laps, Ferrari told its drivers to apply the so-called “LiCo”, namely lift and coast. This meant drivers had to lift off the throttle before braking, especially into corners 3 and 4, to cool down the car’s components. For the SF-25 single-seater, this also related to skid wear, the key metric to check ride height during the race. According to the garage, Charles Leclerc wasn’t executing the lift-off properly, prompting his race engineer Bryan Bozzi to order him to do it nearly in every corner at one point. Naturally, drivers dislike this practice, as it significantly increases lap times.
Lewis Hamilton was informed during the first stint that the strategy had switched to “Plan B”. In hindsight, this referred to a two-stop strategy and the use of mediums in the final stint. Meanwhile, a fierce fight was brewing between the McLaren cars of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who despite their intense duels, were still able to pull away from the Ferrari drivers. Around lap 19, Oscar Piastri reported rear degradation and hinted at a possible pit stop.
This might have been a strategic move to get the team to pit him before his teammate, who had the right to stop first. That way, he could attempt an undercut on Lando Norris. The team hesitated but ultimately called in the British driver on the next lap. The Australian ended up damaging his own race by flat-spotting his front-right tyre just before the radio message — a desperate move to overtake his teammate. Lando Norris held his ground impressively. Oscar Piastri had to do five extra laps on a flat-spotted tyre, rejoining the track six seconds behind his teammate after his stop. Both McLaren cars switched to hard tyres.
Ferrari pitted Charles Leclerc to switch to the hard compound. He rejoined behind Liam Lawson and Fernando Alonso, as the Maranello team stopped him before the pit window for those two had opened. During the stop, they adjusted the front wing slightly to improve aero efficiency and re-balance the car for the white-banded tyre, moving the centre of pressure slightly rearward.
As soon as Charles Leclerc started his stint on the hard compound, Bryan Bozzi told him to reduce front axle degradation. It is unclear what exactly this instruction meant. Still, this phase also saw a heavy reintroduction of lift and coast. Ferrari, through deputy team principal Jerome D’Ambrosio, claimed these were standard brake optimisation procedures. However, listening to other teams’ radio communications, this was not a common issue for them.
Ferrari’s lift-off was more frequent than expected, suggesting the Italian cars were closer to their brake temperature limits than estimated. Whether this was the only reason remains uncertain. Jerome D’Ambrosio’s words must be taken at face value, although there is still a suspicion that lift and coast was also tied to plank wear — the skid block Ferrari must always keep under control.
While other teams use this tactic too, it is evident that none apply it as consistently as Ferrari. The team radio confirms this clearly. Whether the issue was circuit-specific or a chronic weakness of the SF-25 car, the result was the same: it slowed Ferrari down. After Charles Leclerc’s stop, Lewis Hamilton also pitted, mirroring Ferrari’s strategy. It became apparent that the medium tyre was the best compound for the race, not the hard. In the early stages of the stint, Ferrari lost ground to Lando Norris, but midway through, the gap stabilised. Meanwhile, George Russell — on mediums — continued to increase his lead over the Ferrari cars.
Between laps 50 and 51, Ferrari made their final double stop. Both SF-25 cars returned to the track on fresh medium tyres, the last available sets, to finish the race. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri caught back up with Lando Norris due to two key factors: better luck with traffic and damage to the Briton’s front wing, which reduced balance and affected handling in fast corners 6 and 7.
In conclusion, Ferrari ended the Austrian Grand Prix weekend with a positive result. However, it is wise to wait for the next Grand Prix before fully endorsing the effectiveness of the new floor. The Silverstone circuit, which is considered to be an open-air wind tunnel, will be the ideal track to confirm whether the Italian team has genuinely improved in terms of downforce and its overall management.
— see video above —
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