By Carlo Platella
It took Verstappen four years to put together that perfect pole position that eluded him in 2021. Once again the world champion puts a lot of himself into it, finding himself perfectly at ease with a car that is equally monstrous, efficient and benign to drive. The extraordinary nature of the Red Bull shines a reflected light on Ferrari, the only one of the leading group to remain close to the Dutchman, despite the difficulties with new tyres.
Verstappen unleashes the RB20
If there is one thing that the last two years have taught it is that it is not possible to talk about Red Bull's successes without recognizing Verstappen's merits and vice versa. The number 1 completed two perfect laps, both sufficient to guarantee him pole position, extracting all the potential of a car with a lot of aerodynamic downforce, efficient on the straights and well balanced when cornering.
On the hairpin bends of Bahrain Verstappen had praised Red Bull's progress in the slow corners, one of the few shortcomings of the 2023 car. Qualifying in Jeddah, however, shows how the world champions are actually progressed especially in high-speed corners, thanks also to the fund enhanced by the new and futuristic bodywork. In Bahrain, Red Bull had a flying lap advantage of 2 tenths over Ferrari, and 3 over the other top teams. In Saudi Arabia, instead, 6 tenths separate Verstappen from Piastri's best McLaren, which rises to 8 in the comparison with Russell's Mercedes.
Alonso brings Aston Martin to within a few thousandths of Perez, but benefits from an important lead. Therefore, only Ferrari is keeping pace, trailing by 3 tenths with Charles Leclerc. The gap has doubled compared to the 2023 qualification, which however was an orphan of Verstappen. Furthermore, in 2024 the real objective of the Cavallino is to get closer in the race, on which Ferrari is focusing heavily in Jeddah, betting on a more loaded set-up.
Ferrari charged, but off
The Prancing Horse approaches the Saudi race in a countertrend, the only top team not to have a rear wing that is flatter than the one used in the inaugural event in Bahrain. In view of the qualifications Ferrari goes to download the aerodynamics compared to the first tests, switching to the single profile beam-wing, but the SF-24 remains with a more loaded configuration than the competition, useful for protecting the tires in the bends of the first sector.
Yet, much of the delay accumulated by Leclerc is concentrated precisely in the initial sector, a recurring dynamic during qualifying and which is emphasized once fresh tires are fitted. Charles talks about a car “very strange on new tires”, condition in which it becomes “very difficult to drive”. An anomalous situation to which Maranello will try to give an explanation, but a first hypothesis is that the 2024 Ferrari, less aggressive on the tires than the previous one, therefore also has some difficulty in getting them up to temperature.
Already in Bahrain the representatives of the Cavallino denounced the difficulty in arriving at Turn 1 with the tires ready, managing to keep them alive for the entire duration of the lap, so much so that they set partial records in the last sector. The same dynamic returns to Jeddah, so much so that in Q3 Leclerc is the only one to try a double warm-up lap, without obtaining a different result. Hence the small disappointment for the Monegasque, not so much for the final gap, but for a car whose balance does not reflect that appreciated in testing. However, the SF-24 confirms itself as a clear leap forward, on a track full of curves that would have been merciless for the 2023 Red. Proof of this is Bearman's performance, one step away from qualifying for Q3, a further sign of a benign and predictable, in which even a novice can place trust.
Mercedes experiments
Russell blames himself for a mistake on the decisive lap in Q3, which however does not change the picture of the situation at Mercedes. In Jeddah the Silver Arrow appears more grouchy than in the opening event, especially in the hands of Lewis Hamilton, who risks elimination in Q2. In Arabia the Brackley team tries to get to know their car better, on a track that is drastically different from the previous one. It's a Mercedes experimenting a lot during testingalternating different settings, sometimes exchanging them between its drivers, and evaluating the effects of different ground clearances and suspension stiffnesses.
The main limitation remains the instability of the rear, which deprives riders of the confidence needed on a highly technical track. The team tries to remedy the situation by fitting Lewis Hamilton with Bahrain's most loaded rear wing during FP3, but excessive loss of speed on the straight forces an about-face for qualifying. Listening to the team's statements, what is most surprising is the reversal of what was seen during the first weekend of the year. In Bahrain, Mercedes promised better competitiveness in the race than on the flying lap, a scenario reversed in Jeddah, where in any case the Star was far from the front rows in qualifying.
McLaren recovery, Alpine collapse
McLaren is decidedly in better shape, recovering both from his first outing of the season and from Thursday. The MCL38s were the great expectations in Jeddah, strong on their own effectiveness in high-speed corners, but in free practice Norris and Piastri accumulated important delays in the first sector. The work on the set-up improved the situation in time for qualifying, where McLaren regained competitiveness in the initial serpentine.
The stopwatch tells of a car 1.2 seconds faster than in 2023, a growth largely attributable to the development carried out during the past season. However, the leap for McLaren remains an important one, only inferior to the 1.4 seconds gained by Racing Bulls, ninth on the grid with the excellent Tsunoda. The only other team to gain more than a second from 2023 is Williams, whose performances now no longer come from straight-line speed alone. However, the dark moment continues at Alpine, the only car to worsen its performance for the second qualifying in a row compared to 2023, losing 4 tenths of a second. The season is long, but a change of direction is needed as soon as possible for the French company.
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