F1 | Ferrari: SF-24 lost in Baku despite being the fastest

In Maranello, bitterness is in the air. In Gestione Sportiva, Charles Leclerc’s second place is too tight. The expectation was to bring home another victory after the Monegasque’s success in the Italian GP. According to the Prancing Horse staff, the SF-24 was a couple of tenths faster than Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. In Baku, what had been seen in Monza was repeated in reverse, with the red car winning ahead of a superior MCL38.

The excellent Oscar Piastri achieved the best result on the Marc Caspian, leaving behind Charles Leclerc who missed the great opportunity to convert the fourth pole position he achieved in the Azerbaijani capital into a victory.

Without wanting to take anything away from the 22-year-old Australian, who gave a demonstration of his rock-solid ability to keep a tough opponent like Charles in his mirrors for 32 laps, that is, from when he took the lead with a film-worthy overtaking move, he did not suffer the slightest slip-up, proving to be unassailable.

Someone has turned the spotlight on the flap of the mobile rear wing that gave the impression of rising on the sides of the leading edge when the papaya car was launched on the straights: certainly the questionable “contraption” of the McLaren had its part in Oscar’s victory number 2, but in the Ferrari debriefing they speak much more clearly of a lost race, rather than a GP won by the Woking team.

In the unloaded configuration of the SF-24 there was the belief of repeating Monza, but the Prancing Horse team was not perfect in seeking the result. Leclerc was unable to complete the long run in FP2 because after the crash in FP1 the steering box had been replaced and there was something that did not work as Charles expected. No experimental parts to test (it would not have made sense to introduce it in Baku, a difficult track for drivers who have to find the limit by brushing the barriers), but a problem that did not allow the Monegasque to evaluate the degradation of the tyre and he had to rely exclusively on the (valid) data collected by Carlos Sainz.

Leclerc then did his part by signing a sensational pole position and leaving his opponents at a distance (more than three tenths Piastri and a half a second Sainz!), equaling the 26 pole starts of a two-time world champion like Mika Hakkinen. He was also exemplary at the start, leading the Azerbaijan GP with due authority. The worst seemed done, even if there were 51 very long laps to go.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, at the pit stop in the Azerbaijan GP

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

In the first stint on the medium tyres, the red one pulled away from Piastri, building a lead of over six seconds. On lap 17, the Monegasque pitted, responding to Oscar’s stop one lap earlier: the tyre change was quick, but the outlap was cautious, too slow. Leclerc lost almost three seconds, after having lost one on the re-entry lap, when the mediums were already giving up on him. The Little Prince followed the instructions from the pit wall, if he wanted, he could have pushed harder.

Piastri can’t believe it: he disobeys the track engineer who advises him to stick to the red, waiting for a drop in the Ferrari’s tyres that McLaren had predicted, and the Australian skewers Charles at turn 1 on lap 19, perhaps surprised by the late and surgical attack. In the debriefing Leclerc explained that he didn’t go looking for trouble, aware of the superiority of the SF-24, in the belief that he would have overtaken the McLaren to go on to win. And, instead, we know that this wasn’t the case: the Ferrari in dirty air lost efficiency, not finding the speed necessary with the DRS open to surprise the MCL38.

The McLaren MCL38’s movable flap with an upward twist at the end of the straights

Photo by: Franco Nugnes

The McLaren’s more open flap was brought into play, but analyzing the data reveals an interesting fact: at the Speed ​​Trap located shortly after the last mini-bend (T20) located beyond the halfway point of the long straight of over 2.2 km/h, Oscar Piastri touched 328.8 km/h, while Charles Leclerc did not go beyond 325.5 km/h, while in front of the finish line, shortly before the braking point of turn 1, the McLaren reached 341.0 km/h and the Ferrari, thanks to the slipstream, saw 346.3 km/h.

The open wing of the papaya single-seater certainly had an impact (otherwise why use it), but the numbers highlight a Ferrari that was a little less incisive than the McLaren in the acceleration phase on the straight, even if the two cars were separated by only 6 thousandths in the best lap time in favour of the MCL38.

Leclerc understood that in dirty air the red car had seen the two tenths of advantage over the McLaren vanish, but staying close to Piastri, without losing the use of the DRS, he could always hope for a small mistake from the Australian. Oscar was like… Oscar and did not concede even a single mistake, while Charles’s tires, right at the most beautiful moment, began to give way. Without the incident between Sainz and Perez, Leclerc would have finished fourth. And it would have been a mockery in a weekend in which he could have hoped for victory.

The accident between Pérez and Sainz

In Singapore, Ferrari, fresh from Carlos Sainz’s success last year, is approaching with the clear intention of playing its chances: the Maranello team will introduce a front wing designed for the Asian citizen, while waiting for the one with flexible flaps in line with those of McLaren and Mercedes to arrive in Austin. It is not an illusion to hope for Red Bull to overtake in the Constructors’ Championship: the world champion team is 31 points behind, while it seems more difficult to catch the Woking team that has built a 51-point lead. In the Racing Department they continue to push on development because this is an unpredictable and beautiful championship. The money that has been spent on the latest evolution of the red car is not wasted, because what we learn about the extreme use of flaps will also be useful next year…