Formula 1 restarts in the United States with a one-two Ferraris, albeit not a harbinger of an all-red front row in the Austin grid. Leclerc’s 10 penalty positions, in fact, will make the Monegasque retreat up to 12th place, leaving there in front Sainz alone to fight against the usual Max Verstappen. The Spaniard, author of one, will make it splendid pole position, to keep the new bi-World Champion behind? Difficult to say and probably also to do. Sainz was awarded the start at the post with one of the more beautiful laps in qualifying of his career, showing a cleaning of extreme driving, combined with a real perfection of driving and trajectories. The perfect rideassisted by a car that went along with him and that proved absolutely competitive on a complicated track like the Texan one. The track, in fact, has a set of particular challenges and interesting from a technical point of view. First of all, despite the resurfacing, a track remains full of bumps and hollowssometimes even abrupt, which put the 2022 cars in particular crisis. With the ground effect the cars express themselves at their best by keeping close to the ground and with a very rigid suspension package, the exact opposite of what a track with many disconnections, which, as it is logical to think, requires one greater ground clearance and of softer suspension, to better absorb roughness. Added to this are the characteristics of the route, with a particularly selective first sector at the frontthanks to the whole section of the so-called “snake” from curve 2 to curve 9, while the second half of the track becomes complicated to manage as regards the rear tires, first with a long traction phase in the long return straight, and then with a last sector made up of slow curves in which we restart many times from low speed. In these conditions, keep the 4 tires in the ideal window of operation is a feat even only in the dry lap. On the race distance it is the rear that usually goes into crisis, so we tend to shift the balance towards that axle to try to protect it more, and this could be it one of the keys to reading Sainz’s excellent feeling, a driver who naturally prefers this type of car balance. Let’s go however to see the comparison of the data between the pole lap of Carlos Sainz and that of Max Verstappen.
In the first sector we first notice the higher top speed for RedBull with DRS open (308 against 302) and then an error by Verstappen in traction, coming out of turn 1, one of the most critical points of the track for the strong wind which characterized the entire qualification. The subsequent series of curves of the “snake” sees, somewhat surprisingly, Sainz prevail, both at curves 6 and at curves 8 and 9. In this section the front of the F1-75 number 55 proved particularly accurate, while Verstappen seemed slightly more troubled and with a slight delay in the line, perhaps due to a set-up even more designed for the race. The central sector is in favor of the Dutchman, thanks to an excellent curve 11 and the, already mentioned but particularly evident on this track, efficiency of the RB18 at open DRS. 327 km / h at the end of the straight against the 321 of Carlos Sainz, with even a hint of clipping of the red in the last meters. In fact, in the free practice sessions the difference was even greatera little to mean that from Maranello, both because answers are being found on reliabilityboth because you are willing to accept a risk higher, they begin to get green light to use one increasing horse dose. The last sector is absolute Sainz’s great little masterpiece: always ahead of the line, perfect front and explosive traction, thanks to the well-managed tires and the power mentioned above. What we say can be seen well at the exit of turn 12, turn 15 and in an important way also in the short section between turns 19 and 20. And in the third sector Verstappen went into a bit of a crisis on the tires in his last attempt, finding a time well 207 thousandths higher than his best result in that stretch, a time that would have allowed him to take pole position.
From a race point of view though RedBull appears favored. Verstappen had, as we have just pointed out, the potential for pole position, and we have seen the Horner team’s characteristic emerge several times this year of transforming the difficulties in hitting the ideal window of use of the tires in the flying lap, in the ability to keep it once passed at the “stabilized” pace, in which temperatures and pressures find a balance that is often ideal on the RB18. If this is then what we expect from the Milton Keynes team, the real unknown here is the Maranello team. The Austin race will be an important test of the updates brought to Suzuka, on one real track and absolutely challenger on tire management. In reality it will be there anyway a lot to interpret: if it is confirmed, for example, that the rear will pose the greatest difficulties, then Ferrari could have it a slight margin moreas on other occasions the F1-75 has shown itself to have an excellent balance on the so-called “rear limited“. The assets ad high ground clearance for all and one strong base aerodynamic stability they could also help the red pilots a neutralize the effects due to TD39 seen after the summer break and deliver a race to the public more balanced. In absolute terms, the Grand Prix is expected anyway funboth for the challenge in front between Sainz and Verstappen, and for the anticipated comeback from behind by Perez and Leclerc, while Mercedes, potentially fast but in an attitude crisis on the disconnections of the track (confirming the aerodynamic instability of the W13 highlighted several times in season), appears to be a candidate to experience a competition of third force lonely. The race pace simulations were minimal so we will see if these impressions are confirmed during the Grand Prix or if there will be surprises.
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