Where could Charles Leclerc have arrived if he hadn't had a brake problem? Is he too optimistic if we said in front of Sergio Perez? And, therefore, second in the final classification of the Bahrain GP. It is not risky for him to indulge in these considerations, without however going into the merits of what the gap to the world champion could have been. Max Verstappen with the RB20 is a driver from another galaxy, as Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes, lucidly painted him, and his advantage with the new Red Bull “rocket” is not easily measurable.
For Ferrari it would have been enough to classify Leclerc behind the Dutchman, as had already happened in qualifying, to give a positive interpretation to a start to the championship which was not so favorable for the reds. Fred Vasseur, very skilled at filtering sensations, looked at the Scuderia's glass half full: Sakhir established that Ferrari is the second force ahead of Mercedes and McLaren. Everyone will agree on this and there is little doubt.
The French manager highlighted the fact that the SF-24 has halved the gap to Red Bull compared to last year in Bahrain. The data is consistent, but it would be more correct to pick up the thread not from the first race of 2023, but from the last of last season, namely Abu Dhabi.
The result of the track, then, indicates a delay of half a second per lap of the red from the RB20. Definitely too much for those who have the ambition of closing the gap with the Dutchman. Why does Vasseur show optimism in the face of a third and fourth place achieved by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in that order?
The answer is simple: what we saw in Sakhir is not Ferrari's true potential. The SF-24 may be worth at least a couple of tenths less per lap, but the Monegasque's brake problem prevented us from measuring what Charles' real pace would have been. Before the start a brake duct had been replaced, but this element had nothing to do with the problems that emerged during the race.
Ferrari SF-24: the front right corner
Photo by: Uncredited
Leclerc immediately reported via radio that he had a brake problem: the red car was pulling decidedly to the right when braking. The braking was unbalanced and there was an evident imbalance in the car's behavior on the front end which caused severe overheating (over the radio there was talk of a 100 degree difference!). The effect was seen all too clearly: Charles had to race managing the sudden blocks and it must be said that he was very good at bringing home a result worth 12 precious points in the world championship, because other riders might have even thought about retiring , working on the braking distribution, moving the work more to the rear, while to have a high-performance car the exact opposite is necessary.
What happened? The Cavallino technicians are analyzing the data to find the causes: a failure of the Brembo system seems to be excluded. Calipers and discs were not damaged, while an investigation is underway to get to the root of the problem. There are two most likely possibilities: a sensor that has failed, or a brake bleed that was not carried out properly, which would have left the pedal… spongy with air bubbles, causing the car to react very unpredictable.
Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Whatever happened, Ferrari is unable to start the championship to the best of its ability: in a world championship in which all the single-seaters reach the finish line, it becomes important to ensure the drivers have the full integrity of the cars in order to aim high.
Last year in Sakhir, Leclerc himself was forced to stop while he was third due to a wiring that had suffered a current leak and had blacked out part of the electrical system and had burned out a control unit.
On a track where Charles is usually able to go very fast, Ferrari accumulates problems large and small that limit the potential of the SF-24. These too are symptoms of a team that is not yet mature enough to aspire to the top: in F1 you need perfection and Maranello hasn't found it yet. Days on the dynamic bench, then the pre-season tests showed a very consistent red. At the first GP many certainties disappeared. The important thing is that it was an episode. We'll see over the weekend in Jeddah.
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