Scuderia Ferrari began with excessive hopes of recovering towards McLaren within the penultimate spherical of the 2024 championship. In System 1, nothing may be taken as a right, and yesterday’s Qatar Grand Prix, if additional proof was wanted, underscored this emphatically. All of the main drivers began on the yellow tires, a transfer geared toward facilitating tire administration within the first stint and increasing it as a lot as attainable. The aim was certainly to make just one cease. Nevertheless, they knew how troublesome it could be to activate the compounds earlier than the beginning with solely a single preparation lap. On the first Security Automobile, nobody reacted, as anticipated.
Within the early laps, the highest three drivers pushed exhausting, elevating the bar considerably. Max Verstappen was aiming to create a security hole, with Lando Norris instantly behind, attempting to remain inside 2 seconds of him. The Dutchman additionally targeted on saving as a lot tire as attainable, notably conserving the medium compounds within the third sector, hoping to increase the stint. The Purple Bull pit wall knowledgeable him that he was saving greater than the 2 McLaren automobiles, prompting him to extend his tempo shortly after. Throughout the stint, he skilled slight understeer, much like what was seen on Saturday on the 5.419-kilometre Lusail Worldwide Circuit.
That’s the reason, within the second stint, he agreed to extend the entrance wing angle—first by one “click on,” then by two. Nonetheless, the dearth of rotation continued. On McLaren’s aspect, the pit wall confirmed to Lando Norris that as much as lap 20, the tires have been performing as predicted throughout the weekend simulations. Thus, regardless of pushing exhausting, the tires behaved as anticipated. This was completely different from Purple Bull’s description of Max Verstappen’s state of affairs. Round lap 21, the Dutchman started to cut back tire administration, following the pit wall’s orders.
Ferrari targeted closely on managing all 4 tires lap by lap, working notably on Flip 12, a nook thought-about strategic for tire administration. Their lap instances have been considerably slower than McLaren and Purple Bull, however they managed to deal with temperatures and basic degradation properly. The 2 Ferrari drivers stayed near Oscar Piastri’s McLaren MCL38, utilizing him as a strategic reference. Solely within the second a part of the stint, as may be noticed by analyzing the telemetry information, did Charles Leclerc handle to shut in on the Australian driver.
George Russell achieved some temperature stabilization throughout the stint, however slight oversteer contributed to larger tire put on, compromising thermal efficiency. Lewis Hamilton, alternatively, skilled extra front-end graining resulting from a way more troublesome and unbalanced setup on automobile quantity 44. George Russell was the primary among the many main group to cease. The pit wall continuously requested updates on tire situation. Until one thing uncommon occurred, drivers responded by the steering wheel.
By lap 30, Ferrari’s tires have been in good situation and throughout the appropriate working window. Consequently, they reported through radio that pressures have been aligned with optimum goal values. In addition they knowledgeable the drivers they have been nonetheless on Plan A, seemingly a one-stop technique. The Medium compound confirmed a graining part that wanted to be halved to keep away from the drop-off part the place grip would diminish. With the Security Automobile deployed for particles on the observe, the pit-stop window opened. Charles Leclerc modified tires, making the most of the state of affairs and passing Oscar Piastri, who had pitted the lap earlier than.
George Russell additionally struggled, having pitted even earlier, whereas almost everybody else halved their pit-stop time. In keeping with the groups’ information, the white-walled tire behaved equally to the Medium, besides throughout the activation part. Max Verstappen executed good work on the yellow-banded Pirelli tire. With the Exhausting tires within the second stint, fewer laps have been required in comparison with the Medium, making the one-stop technique ultimate for everybody. Nevertheless, this compound offered some front-end points and was fairly susceptible to graining.
The Ferrari SF-24 single-seaters additionally struggled to seek out temperature, particularly earlier than the restart. The Maranello pit wall prompt maximizing throttle wherever attainable. They instructed to go full throttle to generate tire temperature. On the restart after the Security Automobile, Charles Leclerc was in bother, and Oscar Piastri was capable of assault him, however the Monegasque drove completely, managing to maintain him behind. The second Security Automobile additional difficult sustaining the goal on the tires, particularly on the fronts. The dashboard confirmed that temperatures have been properly under the optimum stage.
Ferrari’s second restart was extra stable, nonetheless, with higher use of {the electrical} element, in response to the information from the telemetry evaluation. Lando Norris tried to problem Max Verstappen within the early laps however didn’t have his tires within the optimum working window, permitting the Dutchman to construct a spot fairly simply. The four-time System 1 world champion managed the graining part excellently, even within the first stint. Compliments got here from the Purple Bull group after analyzing the compound put on. The ten-second penalty for Lando Norris then fully compromised his race, leaving him on the again and offering the Maranello group with the good alternative to get well a number of factors and take the battle for the Constructors’ Championship to the ultimate spherical of the 2024 System 1 marketing campaign, which is about to happen subsequent weekend on the 5.281-kilometre Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island.
Charles Leclerc’s Qatar Grand Prix was fully about defending towards Oscar Piastri to take care of second place. Within the remaining laps, Ferrari matched the Australian’s instances as much as the end line. From a strategic perspective, it was a comparatively simple race. The groups gave absolute precedence to tire administration, working by a number of distinct phases. The Italian aspect approached each compounds properly, and this alone made a distinction. Charles Leclerc by no means tried to carefully comply with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, avoiding compromising the tire lifespan.
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