F1 | Ferrari: Curves and combined braking put the SF-24 in crisis

On the eve of the Dutch GP, the two Ferrari drivers had made no secret of the fact that the Zandvoort round could prove difficult for the SF-24. In fact, the first day back from the summer break turned out to be a rude awakening, with Charles Leclerc only ninth at the end of the one-lap simulations and also far behind on the long runs, although he did encounter some traffic at times. Carlos Sainz’s day was much more complex, forced to stop after a few laps in FP2 due to a technical failure in the transmission.

Difficulties that, however, were somehow expected, not only because the trend already seen in the last few appointments was that of a Ferrari in more difficulty than McLaren and Red Bull, but also because the Dutch track is not the most suitable to express the qualities of the SF-24.

A déjà-vu, also because 12 months ago Zandvoort had been the appointment of the “rebirth” of the Reds: although the weekend proved disappointing in terms of performance, also for reasons similar to those that are putting this year’s single-seater in crisis, that weekend the engineers carried out some tests that later proved useful in the development phase.

The nature of the very long, high-load corners, with medium-high speed sections where support and stability are needed, especially where great precision is needed due to having to brake during the rotation phase, has brought to light the limits of the Maranello project, pending the updates that should arrive in the next rounds.

Leclerc’s words explain well a complex situation for a weekend that even Team Principal Vasseur has substantially defined on the defensive, in an attempt to maximize the result, but it is clear that it will take much more than one of the Monegasque’s “magic tricks” to try to overturn the situation.

“I will try to do something special in qualifying, but at the moment we have gaps that are a bit too big to do anything special. If we can get within two or three tenths, maybe there would be something to do. Otherwise, I expect a difficult weekend for us,” said the Ferrari driver at the end of the first day of free practice.

Looking at the data, there are two critical areas that really put Ferrari in trouble, which find their maximum expression in the second sector. In turn seven you can see how one of the few reference drivers goes on the brake, leading to a lower cornering speed. The feeling is that Leclerc tends to sacrifice the entry to have a more driveable and easy to control car in the middle of the corner, to then contain the gap in the exit phase with his “classic” style of partialization of the accelerator, less pronounced than his opponents.

Telemetry comparison between Russell and Leclerc: the difference in performance is noticeable in the fast sections

Photo by: Gianluca D’Alessandro

A discourse that is repeated also in turn 8 and, consequently, also for the setting of the braking of the 9, one of the most complex of the entire track. As seen previously, the Monegasque is not able to carry much speed on the entry to avoid having to suffer excessively in the center of the curve. Here we notice the lack of aerodynamic load of the SF-24 which, however, in the past had already highlighted more critical issues in the fast and very long curves compared to McLaren and Red Bull.

Added to this is the difficulty in the combined phase, that is, those sections where you have to approach braking with the steering wheel already engaged in the rotation phase for the curve setting. The most obvious example is precisely that of braking on curve nine, where the Rossa is unable to be so incisive in braking, having to anticipate the deceleration to avoid arriving excessively “hanging” in the middle of the curve with the risk of ending up in understeer.

For a driver like Leclerc who has often made braking efficiency one of his strong points, this limitation of the car has a double meaning: on the one hand not being able to exploit one of its best features, but on the other also having to play with the accelerator to try to hide the weaknesses. At Zandvoort, however, these two elements combine in an even more visible way, highlighting the weak points of the Maranello project. The goal for the night is to work on the set-up to try to contain the gaps compared to free practice, always keeping an eye on the weather which could create surprises.