Qualification session very confused for the weather conditions that of Imola. A first phase lived with the track that dried in very rapid evolution made it difficult to make performance comparisons as the cars significantly improved their times with each lap. But in the middle of Q2 the arrival of the rain brought the track back to a humid condition and forced everyone to mount the intermediate tires. In the end, however, there are still the two showmen of the season in front of them, Verstappen And Leclerc. Excellent timing for the former, many regrets for the latter. From the point of view of performance there Ferrari brings a fast car to the track, with an excellent aerodynamic balance and, above all, with a perfect mechanical balance. On a dry track, the F1-75 seemed to have a lot in the pocket in terms of overall performance and, compared to the first free practice session, the cars of Leclerc and Sainz found a perfect behavior even in the passage on the curbs. It is no coincidence that on a dry track Leclerc and Verstappen recorded practically the same time, but the Monegasque in Q1while the Dutch only in Q2, when the track had already improved a lot. However, the confused evolution of the session did not help the Maranello team. We talked in a recent article about different “thermal inertia” in tire temperature management and in the qualifying of Imola it was particularly evident. RedBull heats up the tires very quickly (even if, in linear sessions, it has problems managing their stability), on the contrary Ferrari shows a greater thermal inertia, with a better stability when runningbut at the same time the need for work harder on the covers to bring them into the famous optimal window of use. Obviously, this is even more important in the case of a wet track and intermediate tires. The various accidents and the red flags meant that the whole qualifying was extremely fragmented. The constant interruptions simply meant that Verstappen was able to take advantage of the best feature in this condition of his car. Be clear, the Dutch is a certainty to drive that it would be unfair to take for granted. Perez seventh at 1.8 seconds gives the idea of how the reigning world champion is at a always stellar level and when he has an opportunity he doesn’t let it slip away. Compared to the past we then saw the maturity to raise completely his foot off the accelerator, despite being in the lap launched, once he saw the yellow flags for the accident of Valtteri Bottas, behavior that earned him a deserved pole position. On the other hand, Leclerc tried to prepare for Q3 not pushing on the first lapbut keeping the temperature of the tires low. The fact of not giving the pull on the first lap is the classic attitude of who it wants to make the tire last a long time and the idea of the Monegasque and Ferrari was evidently that of turn repeatedly in Q3 to start finding a tire with maximum performance after a round or twothat is, when the F1-75 would have managed to bring the intermediate Pirellis to the ideal temperature window. This was not the case and from the data of the best lap we can see some more information about it.
The first sector is enormously to Verstappen’s advantageeven of 1,228 seconds. The impression is that not only Leclerc’s rubber was still out of the windowbut that, after the very long straight, it was cooled even moreand an extremely cautious Leclerc tackled the first part of the track practically without pushing. Leclerc is also forced to lift his foot out of corners, but the “round” shape of the accelerator graph shows with what caution was approaching the tour. You can see the difference in aggression in driving in this section also from the throttle map below. In the central sector, Leclerc’s tires begin to find temperature and cornering performance is better or similar to that of Verstappen, which is slightly higher in length. Leclerc also makes a significant difference at the detached and in the distance of the high variantconfirming the excellent mechanical set-up of the car. In the third sector it is clear how much Verstappen lift your foot and at the same time you find one good performance at two curves of the Rivazza, until recently Ferrari’s pure hunting ground. It is difficult to say whether Leclerc’s was caution or not, in that stretch.
In the end, however, the impression is of one Ferrari that failed to express its potential but who has what it takes to do well in the 400 km of the race which will start with the sprint and continue with the Grand Prix. The two duelists continue to demonstrate a driving level superior to all and it is likely that they will battle for all the laps of the two races, on one track technique, hard And beautiful like that of Imola. Behind them excellent McLaren (which, however, must be checked in dry conditions) and one Haas looking in great shape. The Mercedes, on the other hand, is disastrouswhich, on a maturity test track, fails sensationally, at least for now, the exam. The performance seen on the Santerno hills of the Brackley team is likely to dig a furrow with the run-up to the title which could no longer be bridged, as the car’s shortcomings appear to be structural and not easily correctable. Wolff’s men will try to recover on the race pace, but the road seems to be very uphill.
I’m still anyway many unknowns of the weekendwith many laps in the race to do, at least two departures And still uncertain weatherwe will see who will win in the end and what values will emerge.
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