Ferrari wins at COTA by achieving aero-mechanical compromise | 2024 USA GP telemetry analysis
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Scuderia Ferrari dominated overseas in the 19th round of the 2024 Formula 1 world championship, the United States Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were the protagonists of a historic one-two finish at the 5.513-kilometre Circuit of The Americas in Austin, masterfully executed by using a secret weapon, namely race pace. Already in Saturday’s Sprint Race, the average pace was very close to Max Verstappen's, even considering the internal duel between the two Ferrari drivers and the fact that the SF-24 cars started from behind. In the usual Sunday race, the two Ferrari drivers showed that, starting from further up, a much better result could have been achieved: victory with a one-two finish.
The perfect Sunday afternoon in Austin began already at turn 1, at the start, when Charles Leclerc slipped past Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, who went wide after the Dutchman attempted an attack on the Briton. Carlos Sainz, starting third, was unlucky in this phase. The Spaniard had to lift off behind the Red Bull RB20 of the world champion in order to avoid a collision, preventing him from chasing his Maranello teammate and completing the one-two immediately. Carlos Sainz was able to gain second position after the first stop, anticipating the tire change. Moreover, the Spaniard crossed the finish line having completed more laps on the Hard compound than anyone else.
In the first stint of the United States Grand Prix, Ferrari registered the best pace of the group. Charles Leclerc, leading the race, was the only one able to maintain an average pace under 100 seconds, with a driving style that showed no major imperfections. The Monegasque’s superiority was made possible by a more cautious warm-up phase, exploiting the better pace and clean air ahead. From the pit wall, Bryan Bozzi, Charles Leclerc's race engineer, radioed his driver to be less aggressive on the curbs and pay more attention to managing the bumps at turn 4.
In terms of tire degradation, the Monegasque driver built his success on consistency, trying not to impose overly abrupt forces on the tires, both during braking and at the exit of corners. Additionally, by staying away from the curbs, the Ferrari driver didn't overstrain the tire's sidewall, avoiding the risk of dangerous cuts. Telemetry shows that the Ferrari driver made a particular difference in two points. The first was between turns 1 and turn 2, turns 6, 7, 8. In this section of the track, he carried 6 kilometers per hour more through the middle of turn 6 and was on the throttle earlier heading into turn 7.
The second key section was the sequence of fast bends 16, 17, 18 in turn 3. In this section, Charles Leclerc maintained a higher throttle percentage, building an average advantage of 0.3 seconds. Charles Leclerc's pace was half a second faster than Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard, after the early-race Safety Car, experienced some issues with the power unit and was no longer able to close the gap to the F1 world champion to attempt an attack as he did in the opening laps of the Austin race. However, tire degradation favored the Ferrari driver over the Dutchman, as he suffered less tire wear in the final phase of the United States Grand Prix.
The reason is linked to the early pit stop, which allowed Carlos to recover some crucial seconds on max Verstappen at the start of the second stint. Lando Norris maintained an average pace similar to the Dutchman and Carlos Sainz, with an extremely conservative first part of the race. The goal was to avoid the tire drop-off seen on Saturday at the end of the sprint race. McLaren’s tactic was to go for a one-stop strategy, extending the first part of the race to increase the pace in the laps leading up to the pit stop.
It was a lackluster race for Mercedes. After a poor qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton made the same mistake as George Russell, hitting the wall at turn 19 after three laps. George Russell, starting from the pits, decided to extend his first stint on hard tires until lap 37, climbing back to sixth position. The Mercedes driver took advantage of the drag reduction system on the straights to make overtakes. The W15, highly efficient on the Circuit of the Americas track, allowed the young Briton to reach top speeds about 10 kilometers per hour higher than his rivals at the end of the two main straights.
Using a more performant tire, the Mercedes driver was one of the fastest in the second half of the race, a result of the situation that developed in the first section. Among the front runners, the average pace leveled out, favoring those who mounted the hard tires later. At that moment, McLaren was 2-3 tenths faster than Ferrari, which was managing the white-striped tires. The tactic from the Woking team did not pay off as expected, according to the mathematical models studied by the engineers.
Probably, the strategists dressed in papaya did not think that Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc would be able to manage their tires as well as they did, while maintaining such a good pace. If we analyze the data relating to the degradation chart, the Maranello team’s men are the only drivers who showed a negative curve. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were therefore able to improve their pace practically until the final laps, managing the lift-and-coast operation to avoid running underweight.
Max Verstappen, caught between Ferrari and McLaren, began to lose performance after the 16th lap on the hard tires, around lap 42 of the race. At that point, the Dutchman’s tires lost temperature, particularly at the front. The core of the tire was too cold, causing graining that slowed the world champion in corner entry and mid-corner. The Red Bull driver had to be more conservative on entry to avoid triggering understeer. As a result, his pace was, on average, two-tenths slower in the slow corners from 12 to 15 compared to Ferrari.
It is difficult to determine whether and how much the balance of power has shifted after such a clear victory by Ferrari. One factor undoubtedly worth noting is the updates. The Maranello team knew its aerodynamic update package much better than its rivals, who had introduced some interesting novelties just for this race. Red Bull, McLaren, and especially Mercedes, therefore, had only an hour to test, gather data, and study all the modifications made to their respective cars.
The setups of these three teams were certainly not optimized to the fullest, but at the same time, Ferrari’s supremacy cannot be denied. The Prancing Horse fine-tuned a car more suited to long-distance races, as we saw both on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The SF-24 single-seater was flying in the twisty sections of the first sector and the slow corners of the third sector, elements we will see again next weekend at the 4.304-kilometre Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. These are the very sections where Ferrari’s engineers will seek to capitalize on to improve top speed, aiming to repeat the result in just a few days.
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