Two free practice sessions don’t change anything in terms of standings, but at the end of Friday in Imola, there’s talk of something different than usual, both in anticipation of tomorrow’s qualifying and the 63 laps scheduled for Sunday. The day’s standings show a Ferrari (Charles Leclerc), a McLaren (Oscar Piastri), a Racing Bull (Yuki Tsunoda), and a Mercedes (Lewis Hamilton) in the top four positions. In Imola’s three circuit sectors, Charles Leclerc stood out as the leader in the first sector, Lando Norris in the second one and Lewis Hamilton in S3. In terms of race pace, Oscar Piastri (on hard tires) confirmed the best pace, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, both on medium tires.
It’s true that it’s only the first day of track activities, but among all the data mentioned, there is no Red Bull, and this is the first piece of good news coming from Imola. “A difficult day,” explained Verstappen, who in two sessions went off the track (four times) more than his season’s average. The Dutchman admitted that he didn’t feel comfortable as his Red Bull RB20 single-seater moved a lot and thus it became very easy to lose it. Even the race simulation was terrible and there’s no doubt Red Bull have work to do as today they were definitely off the pace.
The scenario is complex and definitely against the trend compared to the start of the 2024 Formula 1 season. For a Red Bull in difficulty (at least today), there are McLaren and Ferrari showing clear progress. In the first case, it is a confirmation; in the second, it is the first verdict related to the ‘revised’ SF-24, making its debut this weekend after the run at Fiorano.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are confirming that the results in Miami were not just due to excellent adaptation to the track. Lando would have ended the day with the fastest lap if he had not returned to the pits after achieving the best splits in the first and second sectors. The Miami winner had made a mistake at Rivazza, but the call to the pits also seemed a way not to provide too many references to competitors. Piastri took care of that shortly after, posting the second fastest time of the day and especially completing a sequence of ten laps on hard tires which resulted in the fastest overall long-run.
McLaren has differentiated strategies in race simulations, with Lando Norris taking to the track on medium tires managing to stay close to his teammate. Based on the feedback seen today, the two ‘papaya’ cars have started the weekend off the best.
However, the day’s standings see Charles Leclerc in first place. It’s not a fluke for Charles; the Ferrari immediately seemed very balanced in the FP1 session, confirming its performance in the following session both in sprint version and in long-runs. The weekend is long, but when you hit the track with a car full of new features, and the drivers immediately confirm a good feeling, it’s good news. Charles Leclerc’s pace (who took to the track with a new power unit) also proved very competitive in the race simulation, where he was the second overall and first among those who used medium tires. Carlos Sainz was further behind than usual, a gap that could also be due to conservative management of the power unit, which in the case of the Spaniard remains the second one.
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Caution, both at Ferrari and McLaren, is at an extreme, no one wants to be seen as the favorite, and the comments reflect this by throwing the ball back into Red Bull’s court. “They will do better tomorrow,” – was the comment repeated by everyone with microphones on, while hoping and envisioning a completely different scenario. “We need to keep our feet on the ground,” Charles Leclerc reiterated as tomorrow the track conditions will change radically, the wind will have an opposite direction compared to today, and this will have a big effect on all the cars. Ferrari need to be the best at anticipating these changes as the starting position on this track is very important.
The first F1 sessions for Ferrari in the Imola version went very well. Generally speaking, without fear of contradiction, the two SF-24 EVO cars showed excellent adaptability of the car from the first lap. The engineers at Scuderia Ferrari tried to shift the balance to the rear through tuning. This operation was largely successful. There is still something missing in certain areas of the track like in the first sector, where Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, especially in turns 5-6-7, struggled a bit in hitting the apex. A slight understeer that needs to be corrected.
Traction can also improve to compete against Red Bull. The RB20 wasn’t perfect, but knowing the operating mode of the Milton Keynes team, we know that technicians and drivers will be able to sort out this fundamental aspect of the Austrian car. Otherwise, all planned tests have provided the expected feedback and, for this reason, the second free practice session is awaited to optimize performance, both on push laps and in high fuel runs. Runs with a lot of fuel on board showed excellent performance in FP1, where degradation was kept under control without any strain.
Bryan Bozzi’s debut also went very well. The engineer of Italian origin communicated greatly with Charles Leclerc. Very precise and attentive, so far he is not making anyone miss the formerly heavily criticized Xavi Marcos.
Now let’s take a detailed look at Ferrari’s FP2. The sun is shining in Imola and everything is ready. Weather update: the air temperature is 25.6°C, and the asphalt temperature is 39.7°C. Humidity at 35%, wind blowing from the northwest at 3.4 kilometers per hour. The Ferrari drivers are aboard their F1 cars after carrying out the usual checks: power unit, braking system, transmission, and hybrid system.
After the usual checks on the cars: power unit, braking system, transmission, and hybrid system, the Ferrari drivers got on board and checked the telemetry. A quick study to try to implement a driving style that can improve performance in the parts of the track not optimized in FP1. The two red cars hit the track for the first run with Medium compound tires, not used in the previous session. The warm-up strategy remains the same, with an out-lap that is not too aggressive to input the right amount of energy into the casing.
Leclerc and Sainz start off strong, as they say, making a first attempt in Engine 4, a mapping related to the internal combustion engine usually used in races. The balance is confirmed to be good. The Ferrari team is asked how many tire cooling laps are needed. After a brief discussion, it is decided to perform a single cool down lap. The first attempt where the Spaniard was not perfect, making a small error in T2. Carlos is not entirely satisfied with the setting and therefore asks for a slight modification to the load that can be developed on the front end.
After taking an additional lap to lower the temperatures of the compounds, we now switch to Engine 1, the maximum available power for the internal combustion engine. A series of advice follows regarding brake balance, brake shaping, and mid-corner differential. All managed by pre-mapped configurations that can be activated via toggles on the back of the steering wheel. Charles implements the advice, though he overdoes it a bit in T3 and nearly hits the grass. The Monegasque would like to go for another lap, but Bryan informs him that they can’t spare the time without throwing off the plans for the high fuel tests. Carlos also improves his time, just three thousandths behind his teammate.
The two F1 drivers then return to the garage, where a tire change drill is being conducted. This first run is definitely positive. A further step towards achieving the ideal setting. The second stint on the track begins. The two SF-24 cars head out with a set of new Pirelli red-striped tires. For the out-lap, it is suggested to push in turns 6 and 7 to manage the warm-up strategy best, then to be softer in the last two bends before the finish line. With push mode activated, they start to test the red-striped Pirellis.
Sainz is unhappy because he encounters traffic that compromises his attempt. Charles, on the other hand, makes a mistake in the final sector, the last corner, and mentions it on the radio. He even asks if there might be a “slow puncture,” but Bozzi assures him that everything is under control. They proceed with a double cool-down lap, passing through the pit lane to perform a start test at the end of the pit-lane. Once back on the Imola asphalt, they prepare for the last push lap before moving on to the tests with a high amount of fuel on board. Leclerc is confirmed in first position but is not happy with his performance.
He shaves about 50 milliseconds off his attempt but insists that his tires are completely gone. Moreover, he faces a lot of traffic which obviously slows his performance. Sainz does not complain about anything but is slower. Moreover, he overshoots and ends up on the grass, forced to abort the lap. A pit stop where the two Ferrari SF-24 cars are prepared for race pace. It will be interesting to see how the Italian cars perform with so much fuel on board, keeping in mind the updates installed on the F1 cars.
Charles Leclerc is the first to return to the track. The Ferrari driver mounts the set of Medium tires used in the first part of the session. There will be about 10/11 laps to push the two reds. The balance of the Ferraris with a lot of fuel continues to be very good. On lap 3, a Red Bull enters the track and slows Charles down, which he does not take well, as it stays in the racing line for 3 corners. Although the technicians have moved the balance of the cars to the rear, the front-end of the Ferrari has responded very well, unlike the Red Bull which is struggling quite a bit. This indicates that the updates are working in this respect.
With three laps left in the simulation, the Ferrari drivers take a lap in Engine 1 to test the maximum endothermic power. Once the time is up, they proceed with the usual start test on the grid. Summing up this first day at Imola, we can reaffirm the excellent work done in the driver-in-the-loop simulator in Maranello. Ferrari needs very few laps to find the ideal balance, with a very solid front end that did not suffer despite the setting being moved to the rear, showing a good amount of grip. In terms of traction, there is still work to be done because exiting turn 9, some minor steering control becomes apparent.
It could be superstition, or trauma from defeat after what Max Verstappen has shown in the last two years, but this time there seems to be a genuinely different scenario, similar to Singapore 2023, a weekend where Red Bull couldn’t balance the car. We’ll see if the night brings wisdom to the Red Bull technicians, but what’s certain is that among the advice there will no longer be that from Adrian Newey. Coincidences, of course.
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