Red disappointment
The qualifying session for the Singapore Grand Prix certainly provided more than one surprise, even if not for the pole position. The Challenge announced between McLaren and Ferrari did not take place, given the resounding debacle of the latter, and Landon Norris he found the pole position even comfortably, considering that it only took a conservative and largely imperfect turn according to Norris himself.
His teammate, Oscar Plateshe threw away the front row at the penultimate corner, with a bad oversteer, but this certifies the breadth of the McLaren’s dominance in this final stage of the season, with Norris who will have an important opportunity in the race victorygiven how much it is complicated to overtake on this track. The Woking car showed the best of all features. The data shows that it is not the one with greater loadbut the most balanced between aerodynamics and mechanics.
Stiff enough to have excellent performance in medium-fast corners, soft enough to be able to attack the kerbs without problems in the slower sections, efficient on the straights, also thanks, in fact, to a slightly lower aerodynamic load compared to the main competitor, which, surprisingly, in the end, returned to being the Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. The Milton Keynes team revolutionised the car on the night between Friday and Saturday, moving the entire compromise from mechanical grip to aerodynamic grip. The RB20 took to the track with a much stiffer suspension and more aerodynamic load, and while it was not the ideal theoretical compromise for this track, the situation became decidedly positive. Of course, this brought about new difficulties for Sergio Perezbut Verstappen with his talent evidently manages to exploit the potential of the single-seater much better, which has ended up leading to a sensational front row considering the premises of the free practice. The Dutchman resists for the first two sectors at just over a tenth from Norris, but it is in the last third of the track that he has more difficulty, so much so that he doubles the gap. The Dutchman leaves Norris about 1 tenth already at turn 14 and another 50 thousandths in the chicane 16-17, confirming the difficulties in managing the kerbs and the sections where the mechanics are predominant and surrenders to a second position that is however, as mentioned, much more than satisfactory, especially in world opticswhere another race in crisis but in a weekend where Norris seems to have all the cards to win could have represented a concrete risk for the standings.
Mercedes hits the window and wakes up suddenly
Quite unexpectedly, one might say out of nowhere, Lewis Hamilton takes third placefirst of all with a great lap, as he has demonstrated many times he can do on the Marina Bay track, and with a W15 who has found, almost miraculously, the state of grace when it mattered most. The data shows that Brackley’s single-seater is the more aerodynamically discharged of the three, which is noticeable in many of the longest straights of the track, but which must have found the right one in extremis operating window For aerodynamics and tiresan aspect which, as we have said many times, generates a positive multiplier effect on performance. The only real difficulty encountered by Hamilton appears in the central sectorespecially in the slow section from turn 10 to turn 13, where the seven-time world champion leaves 3 and a half tenths to Norris, compared to just 80 thousandths of the rest of the lap. top speed and his readiness in recovery and acceleration made up for his shortcomings in the corners, and the British champion was once again a master at making the best of the situation.
Ferrari with one adjective: disastrous
The huge disappointed of Singapore Saturday is beyond any doubt the Maranello team. After the excellent Friday and also after q1 and q2, if the pole position it sometimes seemed to be a matter for Lando Norris alone, the front two rows seemed to be a target well within the reach of the SF24. But many things didn’t work at the right time. First of all, of course, theCarlos Sainz accident immediately relegated the red number 55 to tenth position. Looking at the data we saw that the Spaniard let Oscar Piastri pass on his lap, and accelerated again to launch himself immediately after. Evidently the sum of Piastri’s turbulent slipstream, a less than optimal tyre temperature and an incorrect approach by the driver led to a total loss of control, with a significant pendulum effect before the crash into the barriers. The situation was different for Leclercwhich had nevertheless appeared definitely more “on the ball” Sainz throughout the qualifying session and that with the time he recorded in Q2 he would have even taken the front row. The Monegasque’s last attempt however is disastrous from the startwith a track limit taken at turn 2 which already generates the cancellation of the time, which was definitely high anyway, from seventh position even behind Nico Hulkenberg. In the interviews after the session Leclerc explained that something it didn’t work from inside the garagewith the front tyre electric blankets for some reason keeping the tyres 10 degrees cooler than optimal.
At the exit of the pits the Monegasque had to slow down a lot behind Fernando Alonso, which caused the temperature of the tyres to drop even further. At this point the preparation lap Leclerc’s lap is somewhat compromised, with the driver who, despite having both space and time (he had no driver behind him and will cross the line with over 20 seconds to go before the checkered flag), is unable to bring the tyres back into the correct temperature window (or at least to do so in the correct way) and finds himself with a level of grip at the front end that is totally compromised for his lap, so much so that he is unable to stop the car and enter the first corner, immediately suffering the “track limit”. Clearly in a such an important qualification a mistake by the team with the electric blankets is unacceptable for a team like Ferrari and the Leclerc’s anger becomes understandable. On the other hand the tire factor It would now deserve some attention even from Formula 1 itself, because it continues to be the most decisive element on the overall performance of single-seaters, more than 10 horsepower of engine or 5 points of load, and more than onenew front wing which had shown a heavily positive impact on the aerodynamics of the SF24. We will talk about it separately during the next “autumn break”. For the race obviously Lando Norris starts as the favourite. Max Verstappen will probably test the real potential of his car at the start of the race to understand if he has any real chance of winning. If the answer is yes, he will try to fight, otherwise it seems likely to see him in a management race to maintain second place. In Singapore, however, the rain, accidents and Safety Cars are always lurking ready to shake up the standings and this is what the Maranello team will try to cling to in what for now appears to be a impossible comeback.
#Qualifying #Telemetry #Ferrari #Thermal #Disaster #Singapore
