Red Bull 87 points in the Constructors' World Championship, followed by Ferrari with 49 and then there are McLaren with 28 and Mercedes with 26. The team classification after two GPs outlines what is the realistic scenario for this start to the season.
Jeddah cools the expectations of the Ferrari fans a bit and those chasing the red car are quite detached. In Bahrain there was a strong feeling that Charles Leclerc, without the (mysterious) brake problems, would have been able to stay ahead of Sergio Perez, who then came second in a comeback. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has established that the two RB20s are not contestable, at least at the moment, because the Mexican played the role of Max Verstappen's bodyguard admirably, easily overtaking the red Monegasque who had started in front of him.
Charles Leclerc does not seem convinced of Ferrari's potential
Photo by: Shameem Fahath
Leclerc is able to bring the SF-24 to the front row during qualifying, but then has to give in to the pace that the red allows him to keep. Last year Ferrari “ate” its tires after a few laps and this year it has eliminated tire wear, even going in the opposite direction: it struggles to get the tires up to temperature and for a few laps it suffers a situation that allows to the RB20s to take off.
Why does all this happen? Those who speak politely explain that the red does not transfer the necessary energy to the rear tires. Translated into more understandable language: the SF-24 lacks downforce. The car body does not generate enough downforce and the technicians are forced to use a more powerful rear wing to overcome the deficiency of the red one, although the Cavallino staff had decided, like everyone else, on a less resistant profile than that of the Barhain for the very fast track of Jeddah.
Ferrari SF-24: here is the loaded rear wing used in the Saudi Arabian GP
Picture of: Giorgio Piola
The Scuderia never used the new solution even in free practice, aiming to cover the lack of ground effect with a loaded wing. The exuberant 066/10 power unit made it possible not to pay too much for the greater drag on the straight (Leclerc reached the same top speed as Perez at the speed trap: 330.3 km/h), even if it is reasonable to think that the mapping of the Honda engine was not overly pushed, being able to count on a car advantage.
Ferrari, therefore, hoped that, despite having a more resistant car, it would be able to contain Perez. The illusion vanished on lap 4 when the Mexican passed Leclerc with an open DRS. Charles was still busy arguing with the tires not being in the right operating window. And the problem also recurred with the hard compound after the early pit stop on lap 7 due to the safety car caused by Lance Stroll's crash.
The Maranello team, therefore, showed up in Saudi Arabia unprepared to face the citizen of Jeddah. And if in Bahrain it had given the sensation that a red car could act as a wedge between the two Red Bulls, on Saturday it seemed clear to everyone that it was just a utopia. The SF-24 lacks the performance to close a gap which in qualifying is measured at three tenths, but which at certain moments of the race reaches six-seven tenths.
Oliver Bearman, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The amazing performance of Oliver Bearman, an 18-year-old Englishman making his debut to replace the injured Carlos Sainz, gave credit to Enrico Cardile's engineers that the red car is “easy” to drive, if not too easy. The base of the car is good, healthy, but not enough to challenge the RB20s. At the rear, the right balance has not yet been found and the SF-24 has shown a performance limit that can only be overcome by an aerodynamic update package and not by understanding the car's set-up.
In short, Ferrari must be courageous in its choices: perhaps it could have made a bet on the medium compound for the second stint (Tsunoda completed 41 laps with the yellow, Norris 39), but the Cavallino's philosophical approach to the technical and sports is always conservative. Too. The fear of making mistakes does not lead to daring.
In Friday's free practice a comparative run with the unloaded wing could have been done, just as we hope that something new will be seen in Australia. Because otherwise chasing the Red Bulls will become a chimera, but whoever had the unloaded wing and was behind the red (McLaren, Aston Martin and Mercedes) could solve his development problems to undermine the role of the Cavallino's second force .
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