By Carlo Platella
There are just a few hours left until the traffic lights go out for the Monaco Grand Prix, which will see Charles Leclerc and Ferrari start from first position. Overtaking is historically impossible on the narrow streets of the Principality, conferring utmost importance to race strategies. The keys will be the start and graining management in view of the delicate pit stop phases, as he explains Simone BerraChief Engineer Pirelli.
Ferrari challenges McLaren
The front rows of the starting grid see the two Ferraris and the two McLarens side by side, suggesting a two-on-two strategic challenge. “It’s interesting, they’re also alternating, so one team could force the other into a mistake”comments Berra. “If there was enough margin, a car could try to stop earlier to push its opponents to do the same.”
The first variable of interest is the choice of tire at the start, which is by no means a given. “We don’t know what the teams are thinking, but already last year we saw someone up front starting on the hard tire”continues the Pirelli engineer. “The first corner is very close, so even without the extra grip of the medium compared to the hard, overtaking is very difficult because there are only a few metres. This way you would have the medium for the second part, avoiding the hard for after the pit stop which is a little slower to reach temperature. If you wanted to try an undercut, [la dura] it wouldn’t be so favorable. On average you would have more chances, because once out of the pits you could push straight away. Whoever reacts the next lap could in that case be overtaken.”
“We don’t completely rule out the soft startbut we don’t see any benefit,” adds Berra. “Whoever starts from the back or from the pit lane could decide to do it, do a few laps, come back and then have clean air, going all the way on the hard tire. Except for this strategy, however, we don’t see the soft strategy as usable.” Some teams, in particular Haas, tested the soft on Friday for ten laps with a full load of fuel, showing a decent performance. However, the life of the soft tire will be much harder in the race, when the asphalt temperatures will be 10°C higher.
Step to manage
The first part of the race promises to be similar to that of Singapore, with the pacemaker imposing a very conservative pace to save the tyres, compacting the cars behind him. “I expect i first 10 laps very calm to manage to manage pitch and graining”, confirms the Pirelli Chief Engineer. “Then maybe whoever is in the lead will want to try to push to build a margin and have those 3, 4 or 5 seconds that possibly allow you to react to the pit stop of those behind”.
The key will be to be able to preserve the life of the tire and then push close to the pit stop, playing for position with an early or late stop: “We don’t expect the undercut to be particularly powerful, unless the gap is minimal, around a second. In that case there would be the possibility of overtaking the car in front, but if the gap were to be around 3-4 seconds it would become very complicated to have that advantage. With tire management, knowing that the car behind has stopped, you could keep a bit of margin to push on that lap, stop and cover the position.”
“I don’t see the undercut as particularly powerful,” continues Berra. “On the contrary, perhaps the overcut is more powerful in that case. If someone got the wrong strategy and stopped too soon he could re-enter traffic. It’s more important to go as long as possible and have the confidence to cover the position.” Words, those of the Pirelli engineer, which confirm what was seen in Monaco until 2021, the last edition to be held entirely in the dry.
![Oscar Piastri during qualifying for the 2024 Monaco GP](https://storage.googleapis.com/fp-media/1/2024/05/XPB_1281221_HiRes-990x660.jpg)
Ferrari, the pace is there
The forecasts are for tire management that will not focus on the usual thermal degradation, but on graining, a task in which Ferrari has proven effective several times: “Surely graining will affect performance of the front axle. On the rear, however, we expected a little more graining, but in reality we saw quite clean tyres. The teams probably preferred to protect the rear a little more from graining and sacrifice the front slightly.”
“The front is manageable with graining, there are no particular problems, because there are no high-speed corners here anyway,” continues Berra. “At the end of the stint, or in any case after a certain number of laps, the limiting axis for performance will be the rear”. However, the data collected so far are encouraging for the Cavallino: “In the Friday simulations Ferrari was very strong at the beginning of the long run, also with Sainz. If Ferrari were to have an extra pace and stay in front of the first corner, they could certainly do the race they want, worrying a little less about what McLaren can do.”
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