It’s a 3-way challenge in Monaco too
The qualification in Monaco does not disappoint expectations, with one very tight session and indecisive until the last second, from which Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari eventually took the lead, but with decidedly less comfort than what was seen in free practice. For Leclerc, a Q1 with some balance problems and even a piece of advertising poster stuck in the front wing had given rise to some alarm signals, and the brilliance seen in free practice seemed less evident right from the start.
As the session progressed, a certain level of sensitivity was noticed in the SF24 weakness in the front axlewhich affected his performance, so much so that the Monegasque began to find his rhythm again when the incidence of the front wing was increased even more, giving the sensation of a slightly more solid, albeit not perfect, front end.
In the end, however, the rivals for the reds were the two McLarens and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull (with Perez 18th certifying the difficulties of the RB20), confirming that at this stage of the season there is great balance between the three single-seaters and what makes the difference are the characteristics of the tracks and both the technical and driving details of the pilots. Looking at the data from the final lap of Leclerc and Oscar Piastri we find some references that we consider surprising.
McLaren fast even in the slow, Ferrari clinging to the risks of Leclerc and traction
From the comparison graph you can see a McLaren whose engineers have evidently found the right set-up balance between the slowest and fastest sections, putting together everything seen during free practice and solving an equation that initially seemed complicated. The MCL38 actually found performance even in slow corners after the updates brought, and Oscar Piastri even had the pole time under his belt, considering that by putting together his best sectors we obtain an ideal lap time of 1:10.200, i.e. 70 thousandths better than Leclerc’s. However, the Australian was unable to put together all his best sectors in the last lap like Leclerc did, to show how the human factor weighs when the values are so close. Let it be clear that for a young boy like Piastri, the result is already exceptional, considering that he arrived on the front row, ahead of a teammate with so much experience like Norris. Returning to the lap data, we note how at the beginning of the lap Leclerc managed to gain a slight advantage over Piastri thanks to particularly “explosive” traction coming out of the Saint Devote curve, but then in the complicated braking at Massenet and in the subsequent sections up to Loews he was the The Australian gradually gained ground, so much so that he recorded a first split time that was 83 thousandths better than that of the Ferrari driver. In the very slow section Leclerc gets closer at times, although at the entrance to the Portier Piastri he seems to slow down slightly. A slight spin at the second corner of the Portier for the Australian and the return of a “sensational” traction for the Ferrari bring the advantage line back to 0 at the exit of the tunnel, where the passage and especially the exit of the chicane of the port put Leclerc back in the lead, which Leclerc maintained until arriving at the Piscine. Piastri doesn’t give up and takes advantage of a McLaren in a state of grace to get closer to the first S of the Piscine, but the line tested by Leclerc for all the free practices on the second S, more closed on entry to favor traction on exit, brings the SF24 back number 16 in the lead, with then a closing lap where the red car shows an advantage on the bumps at the entrance to the Rascasse compared to the competition and where Leclerc gives a final push “with his heart” to close the lap with the best time.
Ferrari with a solid rear end and the merits of Leclerc
The summary of what has been said so far is of a Ferrari that showed a particularly solid rear end, both aerodynamically and, above all, mechanically, with a “slingshot” traction that made an important chronometric difference, as indeed happens markedly on this generation of cars. Leclerc had more than one merit, first of all to hold on even when qualifying seemed to slip out of his hands due to a no longer perfect feeling with his single-seater, and to optimize to the maximum what the single-seater could give him, holding on when he lacked the front when braking or in some slow corners, and then gained everything possible when the strong rear assisted him. Having built the weekend in such an aggressive manner was in turn a helping factor, because the margin created by Leclerc in terms of driving feeling, by pushing straight away, was enough to allow him to achieve a very important pole despite the reactions of the car were no longer as perfect as he hoped. On the other hand, a splendid McLaren confirms itself as a truly complete car, which can only frighten any opponent.
Rigid and struggling RedBull, Max can’t always be alien
Speaking of opponents, Red Bull has appeared to be in difficulty on the streets of the Principality, mainly because it is becoming clear that there is no way for the engineers in Milton Keynes to make the car work properly when the track requires softening the suspension compartment. Verstappen made a mistake on the last attempt, after having squeezed everything he could out of the car, in an attempt to fight for a front row perhaps within reach, but almost all thanks to his enormous talent, which in any case cannot achieve miracles every Sunday. Of course, Max’s mistake is still costly, given that starting from sixth position risks excluding him from the fight for the podium, but it is proof that the RB20 had no more left and that the Dutchman was already at the extreme limit.
The race: Safety Car and pit stop offsets the big risks for Leclerc
Leclerc gets his third pole position in Monaco, but, incredibly, the Monegasque has never even reached the podium in his home race. It is well known that overtaking is impossible in the narrow streets of the Principality with these enormous cars, and even at the start a simply “good” sprint is enough to maintain first position in the funnel that is the Saint Devote. For this reason, the greatest risks for victory, beyond any errors or reliability problems, for Leclerc will come from the choice of the moment of the pit stop and the laps close to it and from any Safety Cars that could upset the ranking. Said without too many turns of phrase: it will be the right time for Leclerc? The conditions are obviously all there, but the race must be run and brought home, and just as qualifying seemed easy but was very hard to conquer, the race will only be won under the checkered flag.
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