Ferrari patches things up and the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix race at the Imola circuit brings home a minimum of satisfaction. Yes. The Maranello team hits the mark in the race. Fourth place with Lewis Hamilton, sixth with Charles Leclerc. The British driver finishes just off the podium. He was happy at the end of the race and congratulated the team over the radio. The Monegasque was somewhat happy, often a bit too critical due to nerves. His desire to do well is strong, but it often backfires. Nothing serious, in any case.
Charles, the power of the undercut
From Friday’s telemetry data, it seemed clear that the race strategy would involve just one pit stop. But on Sunday, it was warmer, so degradation data had to be revised. This made the tactic less obvious: one stop or two? For the race’s first stint, most teams opted for the medium compound to be safer with a possible one-stop plan, then switched to hards for the second stint.
Ferrari decided to split strategies. Charles Leclerc was given the yellow tyre, initially aligning with what the front-runners had done. With Lewis Hamilton, the team chose the hard compound to extend the first stint and attempt an overcut on the group ahead to recover some race time. A move that ultimately worked. The medium tyre struggled during a middle phase where it did not perform well. In this window, car no. 16 pitted early: lap 12. With the hard tyres, the Ferrari was in a position to attempt an undercut on George Russell, who was running the medium and having trouble managing rear tyre temperatures.
Charles Leclerc’s situation even alarmed the leaders. Oscar Piastri, who boxed on lap 15, managed to stay just ahead of the SF-25 car. McLaren informed Lando Norris that the only option was to stay out, waiting for the compound to start working again. The issue here was temperature, especially on the surface. When a compound degrades, its flexible portion shrinks and it generates less heat. This results in a slight recovery in performance. Max Verstappen did the same. Staying out is generally the right call on a track like this, where track position is crucial.
A circuit offering few overtaking points, much like Monaco, means the later you stop, the better. At that point, both Max Verstappen and Lando Norris aimed to extend their stint as long as possible to create a tyre delta in the next one, where they could have a significantly fresher set compared to their direct rivals.
The Virtual Safety Car cancels Leclerc’s advantage but helps Hamilton
Lando Norris came in on lap 29 to switch to hard tyres. In the same lap, Esteban Ocon stopped on track. His retirement triggered race control to deploy the Virtual Safety Car. A factor that benefited Max Verstappen, allowing him to pit without risking his position to Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. This neutralisation certainly disrupted Charles Leclerc’s plans.
The Monegasque was behind a group on a one-stop strategy, and with the pace he had in the SF-25, he was virtually ahead. But with the Virtual Safety Car, all the advantage vanished. Also, Charles himself found it convenient to stop and switch to a second set of hard tyres, aligning with the others’ strategy.
Up to that point, the recovery of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc was going well, but it was slowed by the limited overtaking opportunities on the track. However, based on pace projections, they were both on course to reach third place by lap 30. Only the other Ferrari SF-25 benefited from the Virtual Safety Car, being able to pit and halve the time loss while switching to the medium compound.
Second Safety Car: Verstappen takes advantage of a free pit stop
After the first Virtual Safety Car, a new race effectively began. Everyone was back on equal footing, whether they had done one or two stops. The goal now was to reach the finish line without further stops. At this stage, there were lengthy discussions between pit wall and drivers on how to maximise tyre longevity.
Kimi Antonelli’s stop before Piratella triggered a full Safety Car this time. Red Bull decided to bring Max Verstappen in so the mechanics could fit a second set of new hard tyres, since he had enough of a gap to make a “free” stop. Norris did the same, although he only had used white-banded Pirellis left. Oscar Piastri, by choosing not to stop, managed to regain second place from his teammate, even though he now had to take his older tyres to the finish. There wasn’t a real strategy difference in this case, as the Australian’s choice was dictated by necessity.
Ferrari, maybe it was right not to fit the Soft
At Ferrari, there was a bit of radio confusion between Charles Leclerc and his race engineer Bryan Bozzi. The pit wall had already instructed the Monegasque to come in. But unfortunately, the Monegasque had already passed the pit entry, and so the communication struggle continued. Charles Leclerc wanted the Soft tyre, but they told him there were 17 laps to go at that point, and the hard tyres would hold until the end.
On paper, he had a set of new Softs, having missed out on Q3 the day before. The Safety Car stayed out for a long time, so the actual racing laps would have been 12, not 17. However, had Charles Leclerc stopped, he would have rejoined in eighth place or worse. On a track like Imola, where track position is crucial. That’s why it can’t be said the strategy was wrong.
It should be noted that no one gambled on the red tyre, so it was likely to be highly ineffective. However, car no. 16 needed a fresh tyre to manage the restart phase better. The used one is much harder to bring back up to temperature because it deforms less and generates less energy. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, did stop to fit a new hard tyre.
A move that worked very well for him, allowing him to push, pass Alex Albon and his teammate, and then try to chase down Oscar Piastri. As the Briton himself said in front of the microphones, with a couple more laps, he might have challenged the Australian for third place.
— see video above —
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