Ferrari: misleading setup and poor feeling with SF-24 in Sao Paulo GP
11/04/2024 01:25 PM
Scuderia Ferrari limits the damage in the 21st round of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Maranello team arrived at the 4.309-kilometre Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo on the back of two consecutive race victories, in the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas and in the Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, but on the green and gold circuit, at least on paper, it was at a disadvantage in a direct comparison with McLaren. Indeed, the MCL38 single-seater appeared to be superior at times, but the heavy rain over the last two days and the changing conditions somewhat overturned expectations.
It should also be noted that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri did not seem to fully understand the track, and one thing was clear: Charles Leclerc is, overall, a much stronger driver than the two dressed in papaya racing suit. In these occasionally extreme conditions, with a car that never adapted to Interlagos's rain, the Monegasque driver managed to finish in fifth place, right ahead of the young pair from the Woking team.
On the other hand, it went terribly wrong for Carlos Sainz, who wrecked the SF-24 cars twice within a few hours: the Spaniard crashed out the second part of the qualifying session, hitting the wall at the Senna S, and then repeated the incident in the middle sector during the Brazilian Grand Prix, while still battling at the back, marking a decidedly lackluster weekend for him, especially after dominating just a week ago in Mexico City.
The race instead gave us an incredible magic moment from Max Verstappen, who started from seventeenth and managed to win, putting half a lap on everyone. A big applause also goes to Alpine, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in second and third positions: the two French drivers, along with the team, executed their strategy flawlessly and showed great pace. McLaren, however, leaves Interlagos in a rough spot.
Regarding the Maranello team, Charles Leclerc was the only competitive Ferrari driver: the Monegasque tried from the start to fight for key positions, but clearly, his SF-24 car was not suited to the wet track at São Paulo’s Autodromo José Carlos Pace. Fifth place may feel slightly unsatisfactory, considering the fact that the Alpine cars finished ahead of him, but at least fewer points were lost to McLaren than expected.
Charles Leclerc described the race as long and challenging, noting that the drivers who reached the podium were those who avoided mistakes and rightly earned their places. For Ferrari, the day brought a mix of satisfaction and frustration; while Charles Leclerc felt disappointed by the Maranello team's difficulty in keeping the car stable in extreme conditions, particularly toward the race's end, due to setup decisions, finishing ahead of McLaren was an unexpected and valuable outcome in their Constructors' Championship battle. Looking ahead, the Italian side aims to return home, recharge, and give their all in the final triple-header, with the ultimate goal of securing the 2024 Formula 1 Constructors' title.
As mentioned before, Carlos Sainz had a weekend to forget, crashing his SF-24 into the wall twice in just a few hours. After a very challenging day, the last thing needed was further incidents, but the pace was never there for the Spaniard in Brazil, starting from Saturday’s Sprint Race.
Following the crash, Carlos Sainz reflected that his Sunday had been one to forget. The Spanish driver regretted adding extra work for the Maranello team on an already challenging day. Managing the car on wet tracks had been a struggle for him since the start of the 2024 Formula 1 campaign, and this race was no different, as he could not find the right feeling with the car. Despite his attempts to push and take risks to recover positions, the effort ultimately led to no gains. While he acknowledged it was a hard day to process, Carlos Sainz looked forward to resetting and shifting his focus to the upcoming race in Las Vegas.
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