Why Ferrari was disappointing in Singapore qualifying: Marina Bay F1 telemetry analysis
Yesterday at 06:38 AM
The Singapore Grand Prix qualifying session was disastrous for Scuderia Ferrari, with the two Ferrari drivers starting from the ninth and tenth spots on the grid in today's race at the 4.94-kilometre Marina Bay Street Circuit. This negative result is hard to accept but much easier to explain, so let's do that together using the telemetry data.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc: two errors, one common factor
Both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc made individual errors, which clearly compromised their final positions in Q3. The Spaniard lost control of his SF-24 single-seater right as he was about to start his lap, crashing into the barriers. His Maranello teammate, on the other hand, went slightly wide at Turn 1, exceeding track limits, which led to his only lap time being deleted (even though it would have placed him only in seventh).
Given the dynamics of these incidents, it's evident that tire temperature was the major issue Ferrari faced. To further confirm this, let's analyze the telemetry based on data collected from the qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc vs Lando Norris: all of Ferrari's struggles
In the first sector, made up of practically three turns, the Monegasque driver was more than two-tenths behind, almost half of the total gap at the end of the lap. This happened because, as mentioned earlier (and confirmed by the driver himself), the tires weren't ready to provide maximum grip.
In the middle part of the track, the gap to McLaren is less pronounced, showing a better thermal window for the tires. By the time they reached the final chicane, the SF-24 struggled again, showing a tenth of a second slower than Norris's car, who delivered a masterful qualifying performance. In short, Ferrari's faint championship hopes seem to have definitively faded on Singapore's Saturday. However, there's still a race to be run at Marina Bay, and who knows if the Prancing Horse can redeem itself…
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