Imola analysis: updated Ferrari SF-24 car generates less drag

Scuderia Ferrari gave it their all in the seventh round of the 2024 Formula 1 championship in front of the tifosi, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to secure a victory at the Imola circuit. Max Verstappen’s Red Bull once again led the pack, with Lando Norris finishing right on the tail of the RB20 number 1. Charles Leclerc finished third, securing a podium spot for the Maranello team and giving fans something to celebrate, while Oscar Piastri came in fourth, ahead of Carlos Sainz who lost his position to the Australian McLaren driver during the pit stop period.

Ferrari’s strategy of waiting for a Safety Car that never appeared didn’t pay off. Without this incorrect context, Carlos Sainz’s chances of finishing ahead of Oscar Piastri would have been higher.

Let’s move on to further data analysis to understand how and why the different drivers achieved their results. First, we’ll examine the average speeds of the cars at the apex of various types of corners. Starting with the first stint, on Medium compounds, the top drivers showed very similar performances in the most technical sections of the Imola track. There weren’t significant differences in performance, but the data still shows that the Milton Keynes team did an excellent job on the front end of the RB20 car. The front end that wasn’t working at all on Friday in the first two free practice sessions.

F1, Ferrari Suffers at Piratella Due to Less Rear Downforce

We are referring to meticulous fine-tuning that resolved issues and allowed the Austrian car to perform at its best. In the medium-speed sections, however, we see Oscar Piastri’s MCL38 dominating. The Australian benefited from very good tire management, even though he was affected by the dirty air from running behind the SF-24 of Carlos Sainz. The young McLaren driver stayed close to the Spaniard thanks to his better minimum speeds in such corners. In contrast, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc had to deal with slightly overheating rear tires.

This factor significantly limited their speed in corners like Tamburello and Villeneuve. At the Piratella corner, the Ferrari duo paid the price for their lower rear downforce configuration and a suspension setup with less roll, preventing them from achieving speeds similar to those of Red Bull and McLaren, especially with a high fuel load. In the second stint, the teams opted for Hard tires to complete the race.

This strategy allowed Lando Norris to make a significant difference. By analyzing the telemetry data, we can see how the tire management of the McLaren car number 4 was better compared to the first run, allowing the Briton to gain an average of 2 kilometers per hour on Max Verstappen at the Villeneuve corner. It’s important to note that the three-time reigning Formula 1 world champion was struggling due to excessive sliding on the white-banded Pirelli tires.

Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!

Ferrari, in general, struggled in the cornering phase. From the team radio, Bryan Bozzi, Charles Leclerc‘s new engineer, repeatedly asked the Monegasque driver to focus on corner entry to avoid excessive tire wear. To finish the race without an additional pit stop, both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc had to take the Variante Alta and the two Rivazza corners at a lower speed. This approach helped limit tire degradation. Red Bull seemed more comfortable in the last two corners of the circuit, skillfully using downforce at medium speed.

F1: McLaren Better on Straights, Ferrari Reduces Drag

Let’s continue the analysis by evaluating the efficiency of the drag reduction system on various cars. Generally, a lower drag wing limits the effect of the mobile device, which is why Ferrari shows a smaller delta with the wing open compared to the Austrian cars. Red Bull benefited in terms of reducing drag, dominating in efficiency and top speed at the end of the straight. In terms of pure drag with the wing closed, the two updated SF-24 cars seem to have made progress, trailing only 2 kilometers per hour behind Max Verstappen, who had a more loaded rear setup.

McLaren optimized the minimum speed at the entrance of the DRS zone and confirmed its superiority on the straights. As highlighted in the analyses yesterday and before the race, the papaya-colored cars are faster than their rivals on the straight. The delta with the wing closed shows how the Woking team has made significant strides in efficiency since the Miami Grand Prix. Additionally, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri also experienced the downside of a lower drag wing, which prevented them from achieving a delta with the DRS open equal to Red Bull.

This factor is also influenced by the use of hybrid power, which we will discuss in a forthcoming article. Finally, we look a different telemetry data in order to quantify the cars’ performance on the straight, examining the average speed of the drivers in the specified sections, from reaching 100% throttle out of the corner to the start of braking. It is evident that Oscar Piastri’s performance at the finish line and after Villeneuve is significantly better, showcasing the great ability of the British cars to cut through the air.

The average speeds of Ferrari confirm that the car’s drag has improved. The Ferrari drivers show similar results to Red Bull, even though the more loaded rear wing likely disadvantaged the world champions. The data we have discussed confirm that the overall drag of the SF-24 has improved with the new version introduced last weekend in Italy. What the Maranello team lacks to recover the two-tenths gap to the RB20 is time to understand and optimize the upgrades. Additionally, they await tracks that might better suit the Ferrari concept, keeping in mind that they seem to be on the right path.

The package brought by the Maranello team for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend is not only aimed at instant performance improvement but is also a semi-revolution of the car’s aerodynamic setup. This effort is intended to both enhance performance and open up new development pathways. The fact that some solutions in this direction converge with the revolution undertaken by Red Bull with the RB20 compared to the RB19 does not necessarily mean that Ferrari is copying their rivals. More likely, the simulation results have yielded similar outcomes, albeit with the advantage that the Milton Keynes team had shortened by the fervent work at Maranello.

Red Bull stated before the 2024 Formula 1 season that the revolution they introduced was aimed at opening up more profitable development scenarios rather than pursuing a path that seemed to be nearing its end. This is the same path now taken by the team led by Fred Vasseur. This means that the Ferrari package (as we have seen with McLaren) will need some time to be fully understood and optimized. Additionally, it is likely to be soon integrated with improvements aimed at optimizing everything using data gathered from the track.