F1 | Ferrari disappointing: the step back was very costly

It is a very dull red that we saw on the two Ferraris at Silverstone. The outcome of the qualifying for the British Grand Prix says a lot: Sainz seventh, almost seven tenths from poleman George Russell, Leclerc eleventh, out of Q3.

It is a snapshot of the values ​​on the field, partly known, but not to the extent seen today. That Ferrari is behind Red Bull, McLaren and the surprising Mercedes was predictable, behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas, no. And yet, the stopwatch said this.

The weekend of passion began with the comparative test between the ‘Barcelona’ specification and the previous one that had debuted in Imola, a comparison necessary to identify the critical points of the latest package. After the data that emerged in the two free practice sessions on Friday, the verdict was clear: we’re going back. A choice dictated by the need to not have Leclerc and Sainz dealing with bouncing, a thorn in the side on the Silverstone circuit.

The problem is that in Formula 1, going back to a configuration used two months ago means giving two months of advantage to the opponents, a period of time in which the competition has made great strides forward. “It hasn’t given us any extra performance,” Sainz stressed, speaking about the old configuration. “It has just given us a bit more consistency at high speed, with less bumps. The aim is just to make the car more consistent, but we are aware that we are not moving forward, but backwards.”

In this scenario, Leclerc also made a mistake on the last lap available to make the cut to Q2, a crucial mistake that condemned the Monegasque to the early termination of his qualifying.

Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

After his Monaco glory bath, Charles has no longer confirmed himself as the sharpshooter that Ferrari needs today, a role that Sainz has been playing in the last two weekends. It is true that Leclerc drove the old configuration on the dry only in qualifying, but the mistake at Chapel at the crucial moment cost him dearly.

“We missed Q3 by a tenth,” Charles commented, “and it was the first time I had driven with this setup in the dry. This makes it difficult to optimise the work done over the weekend, but I hope that what we did yesterday can help us in the long term. Today, however, we are paying a bit of a price for it.”

Making life difficult for Leclerc was the lack of feeling with the front end. “Both at Turn 13 and 15 I went completely straight,” Charles admitted. “The front left tyre was out of its operating window and I had very little grip, and this caused a lot of balance problems in the high-speed sections. That’s where we lost most of the lap time.”

According to Frederic Vasseur, the team is also paying for its inability to optimize what it has available. It is not the main problem (even if the Scuderia team principal wants to send this message) but it is true that something was left on the road (by Leclerc, Sainz and the indications coming from the pits) margins that could have brought the two Ferraris closer to the third row, but not further.

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Ferrari

“In Q2 there were nine cars within a tenth,” explained Frederic Vasseur, “and we couldn’t put it all together at the crucial moment. We weren’t in the best conditions, then Leclerc made a mistake in turn 13 that cost him 3 tenths. And when you have so many cars within a tenth it becomes difficult.”

“Carlos also came out of the pitlane on the last lap of Q3 together with Alonso and Piastri and this was certainly not ideal for preparing the lap. He was in a good position until Turn 4, then he lost his way and was unable to get everyone together. I think it is more a question of operations on the track, before other things”. Vasseur blames the problem on Sainz’s return to the track for the last run of Q3. Carlos was one of the last drivers to come out of the pitlane, a trend already seen in Spielberg and which continues (not only at Ferrari) despite the risks to which this strategy exposes.

“A wet race? I hope so,” Charles added. “The worst race for me would be to do a normal race with the same strategy for everyone. So let the rain come, it would help us.” Leclerc hopes for a wet and unpredictable race, the only condition in which he can hope to find a wild card, but in terms of race pace, according to Sainz, there is not a big difference. “In terms of pace, I don’t think our competitiveness changes much,” Carlos reiterated. “Whether it’s dry or wet, we are more or less at the same level.”