“Monaco will expose all our weaknesses.” That was how Charles Leclerc, speaking in Imola, looked ahead to his home race with concern—a sentiment he repeated during the press conference on the eve of the Monaco weekend. The Ferrari SF-25 struggles to extract peak grip from fresh tyres in qualifying, a crucial session in the Principality, and more importantly, it suffers in low-speed corners, which dominate Monte Carlo. On the other hand, the Scuderia is counting on other specific features of Monaco to help its drivers perform well, while also trying to apply lessons learned in previous qualifying sessions.
A matter of compromise
“In terms of pure performance, I’d say slow corners aren’t our strong point, whereas since the start of the year we’ve done better in medium- and high-speed ones,” explained Jerome d’Ambrosio, when asked about Ferrari’s prospects on the streets of the Principality. However, the Deputy Team Principal added: “That said, it’s always difficult to assess low- and high-speed sections, because it depends on how you set up the car, as well as the average speed of the high-speed parts. For example, when there are long straights you have certain limitations, whereas here there are fewer. Maybe this will be a bit of a unique circuit in that sense.”
Paradoxically, the predominance of slow corners might help Ferrari in its search for the ideal compromise. The SF-25 excels in high-speed bends, but the difficulty in stabilising ride height to prevent floor wear forces the team to overly stiffen the suspension, which deprives the car of mechanical grip in slow corners and generally narrows its operating window. Jerome D’Ambrosio’s references to straights indicate that it’s not just a matter of balance, but of aerodynamic efficiency, and above all of countering, with a stiff suspension setup, the huge downforce that presses the car into the ground at high speed, wearing down the plank. The uneven asphalt of Monaco complicates ride height management, though the near-absence of straights helps soften the suspension, improving traction and agility over the kerbs.
A unique case
The Principality therefore reduces concerns that the downforce generated in high-speed sections could excessively wear the floor—though it doesn’t eliminate them entirely. “You always have to find a bit of a compromise, because there are still some high-speed sections. And by that I don’t just mean corners, but straights too,” commented Jerome d’Ambrosio. It remains true that Monaco’s corners fall within a narrow speed range. This makes it easier to find a compromise setup between the slower parts—which require good rotation on entry and strong rear-end stability on exit—and the faster ones, which call for stability on entry and a responsive front end at mid-corner.
The situation in Miami was completely different, with a fast opening sequence above 200 km/h followed by a tight and twisty central section where Ferrari struggled significantly. The Florida track exposed the SF-25’s weaknesses in slow corners, but more importantly, it highlighted the car’s “short blanket” issue, revealing the team’s difficulties in achieving a balanced compromise between high and low-speed sections. The conditions in Monaco are different, as the Deputy Team Principal noted: “It’ll be the first race where we truly have a low-speed track, with very few fast sections. We’ll see how that affects each team. I don’t think we’ve seen it yet—it’ll be something new.”
Tyre factor
For the Maranello team, the weekend in Monaco also hinges on its ability to exploit fresh tyres over a single flying lap, after two Grands Prix where both Hamilton and Leclerc set their best qualifying times on used tyres. Ferrari will try to make the most of the experience gathered in recent weeks, but Jerome d’Ambrosio pointed out that it’s not so straightforward: “The hard part is that when you draw conclusions from one weekend, you then head into another with very different conditions in terms of track layout and so on. How can you extrapolate information from one Grand Prix to the next? That’s the challenge we’re facing.”
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