Ferrari is fighting for the F1 Constructors’ Championship, a two-way battle with McLaren. With two Grands Prix remaining in the season, including a Sprint Race in Qatar—a circuit that could prove challenging for the Scuderia—the team must regroup and position itself to perform at its best. This is a commitment they owe to themselves and their fans. The title has been absent since the 2008 season, when the combined points of Massa and Raikkonen surpassed those of Kovalainen and Hamilton.
Ferrari is not experiencing an easy moment. The current driver pairing, which has worked well over four years, seems to be nearing its end. Rumors suggest that they no longer tolerate each other and that their relationship has reached rock bottom. Over the years, misunderstandings have occurred, but disputes have always been resolved internally, leaving no significant aftermath. Sainz will leave the team at the end of the year, making way for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Next year, Sainz will take the wheel of Williams, a team experiencing significant growth but still far from the top. For this reason, despite his professionalism, Carlos is racing for Ferrari but also for himself. And there is nothing wrong with that, let’s be clear. Today, to ease the tension, we analyze a situation involving tire management during the third stint of the race—a competitive scenario where the two SF-24s delivered their best performance.
F1, Las Vegas GP: Ferrari and the activation of the Hard tire with the SF-24
After the race, it was explained how Ferrari “understood” only during the final stint how to manage the compounds effectively. This allows us to explain how the Italian team reached this understanding about the Hard compound and what was practically necessary to optimize so-called “tire management.” Let’s begin with lap 28, the last lap before Carlos Sainz’s second pit stop, where the Spaniard was preparing to switch to a second set of white-banded Pirellis—a compound that performed significantly better on the SF-24 compared to the Mediums.
We observe the dashboard layout, faithfully reproduced based on Ferrari’s steering wheel. In addition to the various sections of the main window, our primary interest lies in the four boxes surrounding the word GEAR (gear). Within these rectangles are numbers indicating the temperature delta of each tire, both front and rear, relative to the target set by the team. This provides concrete data on how far each tire is from the optimal temperature defined by the team. It’s important to note that each team may have slightly different targets based on their experience with the car.
Toward the end of the second stint on the Hard tires, Sainz enters the pit lane with the front left tire showing an in-line reading, as the difference from the target is zero (“0”). Meanwhile, the front right tire is 3°C below the optimal temperature. This indicates that the tire is colder, with a smaller portion of the tread deforming and struggling to generate heat. The rear axle, on the other hand, is 3°C above the target for both tires. Sainz then switches to the second set of white-banded Pirellis. At the start of the stint, the temperatures are well below the ideal range.
The image above serves as evidence. In the tire blankets, as per the regulations established by the International Federation, the maximum temperature cannot exceed 70°C. Furthermore, when the tires are removed and placed by the mechanics on the mat in front of the garage, waiting for the car to arrive, the tires naturally lose some of the temperature previously attained due to ambient conditions. Additionally, traveling through the pit lane at reduced speed—60 km/h in the 2024 season—causes the tires to cool further.
When an F1 car leaves the pit lane and begins pushing, the temperature across the four tires can be considered relatively homogeneous. In fact, we see that Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari No. 55 shows values approximately 30°C below the “ideal” target on both axles. It should be specified that this refers to the “surface temperature,” meaning the tread, and not the internal carcass values, which are also monitored via specific sensors. Looking at the next image, we can verify the data at the end of the outlap.
At the end of the first lap after rejoining the track following the tire change, the situation is as displayed on the dashboard above. We are at lap 30. While the temperatures begin to rise, they remain far from the ideal values needed to properly exploit the tires. The front-right tire is the closest to the required value, as it is the most stressed among the four, given the circuit’s layout. The Spaniard performs a single “introduction,” a move that slightly delays activation but ensures the estimated useful life of the tire.
For this reason, he tries to be cautious during acceleration phases, as the front axle is easier to bring to temperature. The pit wall, via race engineer Riccardo Adami, sets a lap time target of 37.5 seconds. However, it is noted that the Ferrari driver ends up slightly faster than required, reducing the lap time by about two-tenths compared to the target set by the pit wall, which is closely linked to the remote garage providing all the necessary data to evaluate every factor and perform effectively.
Looking at the subsequent image, we notice improved temperatures in the next lap. The most challenging operation involves activating the front-left tire, which remains consistently colder than the right tire on the same axle. Sainz and Adami therefore agree to minimize the steering angle in slow corners to help warm up the entire front end of the Ferrari, as was done last season. This technique is not easy to execute but proves highly effective, simultaneously avoiding excessive stress on the rear tires.
To maintain control of the rear end, Sainz employs “power management” in specific corners, such as Turn 6, aiming to preserve the front from graining. Graining occurs when the front tires are too cold and slide excessively, creating a layer of abraded rubber on the tread’s surface, reducing overall grip. To prevent this, the front axle must be kept as close as possible to the ideal temperature. The goal is to stabilize the temperatures around the target value.
By lap 32, Sainz has skillfully brought all four tires up to temperature in a gradual and simulated manner. This approach not only extends tire life but also stabilizes the surface temperature, allowing the tires to achieve optimal grip. In the cold conditions of Las Vegas, the compounds tend to cool, losing up to 4–5°C on the straights. The front-left tire has nearly the same temperature as the rear tires, which avoids activation asynchrony, a frequent issue in tire management.
Moving to lap 40, near the end of the stint, Riccardo Adami radios in to congratulate Sainz. He commends the Spaniard’s performance, which was significantly better than during the second stint, where tire management was far from ideal. Additionally, the Italian race engineer advises against reaching the tires’ saturation point in Turn 7, a measure intended to prevent overheating.
Considering the layout of the corner, a medium-speed left-hander, the Ferrari’s strategy, developed with the pit wall, aimed to reduce the SF-24’s speed on entry. The reason is straightforward: to avoid adding excessive temperature to the front-right tire, which, in this case, is the outer tire.
Indeed, the front-right compound was already 4°C above the target temperature, while the front-left was practically at its ideal value. Demanding too much from the Italian F1 car in Turn 7 would have overheated the tire and, as a consequence, created a temperature delta leading to asynchrony. This would have compromised tire management. Similar measures were taken in Turn 10 for the same reason.
By lap 41, the final reference point, the front-left tire was progressively warming, while the rear end was now 7–9°C above the target temperature. Sainz gave his maximum, and with this Ferrari, he could do no more. Although things undoubtedly improved during the third part of the race, the front end eventually cooled again, resulting in a level of grip insufficient to eliminate understeer entirely.
Overall, the Scuderia failed to manage its tires as effectively as Mercedes. In the third stint, Lewis Hamilton’s pace was superior, allowing him to cross the finish line 4.5 seconds ahead of Sainz’s car. Ferrari was lacking about a tenth per lap even during the race. The Brackley cars excelled at quickly finding and stabilizing temperatures and demonstrated an unmatched ability to delay the onset of tire graining compared to all other teams.
— see video above —
Leave a Reply