F1, Ferrari: SF-24 lost at Baku City Circuit despite being fastest car
09/17/2024 11:00 AM
In Maranello, there’s a bitter taste. In the Ferrari Racing Department , Charles Leclerc’s second place feels insufficient.
The expectation was to bring home another win after Charles Leclerc's success at the Italian GP. According to the Maranello staff, the SF-24 was a couple of tenths faster than Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. In Baku, the roles were reversed compared to what happened in Monza, with the red car winning ahead of a superior MCL38.
On the Caspian Sea, the excellent Oscar Piastri achieved the best result, leaving behind Charles Leclerc, who missed a big opportunity to convert his fourth pole position in the Azerbaijani capital into a victory.
Without taking anything away from the 22-year-old Australian, who gave a masterclass in keeping a tough opponent like Charles behind for 32 laps after taking the lead with a textbook overtake, he made no mistakes, proving unassailable.
Some have pointed out the rear wing flap that seemed to lift on the edges of the entry when the papaya car was speeding down the straights: certainly, the questionable “gimmick” on the McLaren played a part in Oscar’s second win, but Ferrari’s debriefing speaks much more about a race lost than about a GP won by the Woking team.
In the low-downforce configuration of the SF-24, there was confidence in repeating Monza, but the Maranello team was not perfect in chasing the result. Charles Leclerc couldn’t do the long run in FP2 because after the crash in FP1, the steering box was replaced, and something didn’t work as Charles expected. No experimental parts were tested (it wouldn’t have made sense to introduce them in Baku, a tricky track for drivers who have to find the limit by brushing the barriers), but it was a problem that didn't allow the Monegasque to assess tire degradation, and he had to rely solely on the (valid) data gathered by Carlos Sainz.
Charles Leclerc then did his part, securing a stunning pole position and leaving his opponents behind (more than three tenths ahead of Piastri and half a second ahead of Sainz!), equaling the 26 poles of a two-time world champion like Mika Hakkinen. Even at the start, he was exemplary, leading the Azerbaijan GP with the necessary authority. Most of the job seemed done, even though there were still 51 long laps to go.
In the first stint on medium tires, the red car extended the lead over Piastri, building a margin of over six seconds. On lap 17, the Monegasque stopped for the pit stop, responding to Oscar's stop one lap earlier: the tire change was quick, but the outlap was cautious, too slow. Charles Leclerc lost almost three seconds after losing one in the in-lap, as the medium tires were already giving up. The “Prince” followed the pit wall's instructions; if he had wanted to, he could have pushed harder.
Piastri couldn’t believe his luck: he disobeyed his race engineer, who advised him to stay close to the red car, waiting for the tire drop-off that McLaren had predicted, and the Australian dived into turn 1 on lap 19, catching Charles, perhaps surprised by the late and precise attack. In the debrief, Leclerc explained that he didn't go looking for trouble, knowing the SF-24's superiority, convinced that he would re-pass the McLaren to go on and win. But, as we know, that's not how it went: the Ferrari in dirty air lost efficiency, failing to find the necessary speed with the DRS open to surprise the MCL38.
The more open flap of the McLaren was mentioned, but when analyzing the data, an interesting figure emerges: at the Speed Trap, just after the final mini-bend (T20) past the halfway point of the long straight, Oscar Piastri reached 328.8 km/h, while Charles Leclerc didn't go beyond 325.5 km/h. At the finish line, just before the braking for turn 1, the McLaren hit 341.0 km/h, and the Ferrari, thanks to the slipstream, reached 346.3 km/h.
The open wing of the papaya car certainly had an impact (otherwise, why use it?), but the numbers highlight a Ferrari that, in the acceleration phase on the straight, was slightly less incisive than the McLaren, even though the two cars were separated by just 6 thousandths in the fastest lap, favoring the MCL38.
Charles Leclerc realized that in dirty air, the red car had lost the two-tenths advantage over McLaren, but by staying close to Piastri and keeping the DRS, he could always hope for a small mistake from the Australian. Oscar was… Oscar and didn't make a single slip-up, while Charles' tires, right at the crucial moment, began to give way. Without the incident between Sainz and Perez, Leclerc would have finished fourth. And that would have been a disappointment in a weekend where he could have hoped for victory.
In Singapore, Ferrari, coming off Carlos Sainz's win last year, approaches with the clear intention of taking their chances: the Maranello team will introduce a front wing designed for the Asian street circuit, while in Austin, a new one with flexible flaps in line with McLaren and Mercedes will arrive. It’s not an illusion to hope for overtaking Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship: the world champion team is 31 points ahead, while it seems harder to catch the Woking team, which has built a 51-point lead. The Racing Department continues to push development because this is an unpredictable and thrilling championship. The money spent on the latest evolution of the red car is not wasted because what they are learning about extreme flap use will be useful next year as well.
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