20 thousandths between Lando and Max
Qualifying in Barcelona still offers excitement and fun, with a fight for pole that lasted until the last second between the usually excellent Max Verstappen, capable of leading a Red Bull still with some set-up problems to fight for pole, and a great Lando Norris, who this time delivers a truly masterful performance at the moment that matters most, with a perfect lap that deservedly gives him the second pole position of his career, by just 20 thousandths of a second over Verstappen.
Pole McLaren is no surprise
As we said, the Barcelona track enhances the aerodynamic qualities of the cars, and these qualities are present in abundance on the McLaren. The pole in Barcelona for the team led by Andrea Stella and Zak Brown means find further confirmation of a continuous and profitable work process which has been going on for about a year now and which, if we want to find a flaw, was perhaps too timid during the winter, when at the beginning of the season the SF24 had proven to be faster than the MCL38, but the “short” winter passage was quickly recovered with the first updates on the car, which took it all the way to planet RedBull. Of course, there is still the race to be run and there will still be much to discover, but the qualifying result remains a significant confirmation of the speed of the Woking single-seater. If we consider the seasonal conditions, the RB20 not finding pole in Barcelona, albeit by 20 thousandths, is, instead, a certain disappointment, but looking at the evolution of the weekend and the last races we understand the satisfaction shown by Max Verstappen after the session. Red Bull continues to show difficulty finding trim configurations that work properly, and the work done in the factory regularly turns out to be unprofitable, with free practice constantly seeing setup revolutions on the cars, including changes of wings, heights and all possible parameters. Verstappen’s talent and charisma then manage to lead the team in the right direction, but always after great efforts on the track. It is not surprising if Perez is unable to find the right balance and obtains results of a much higher level than his fellow World Champion.
The three curves to do in full
In any case, after a Friday in which the Milton Keynes team had shown an approach that did not maximize aerodynamic load, the situation changed drastically on Saturday, with the RB20 showing a truly high level of downforce, brought to track even at the cost of sacrificing speed on the straight (and with, at that point, the pattern of Perez’s slipstream to Verstappen which was not enough for pole, but just by a whisker). From the first lap in Q1, Verstappen was the only one able to complete the 3 most demanding corners in terms of aerodynamic load, i.e. 3, 9 and 14. As the session progressed, the others also gradually everyone managed to do it in full except the two Ferrari drivers, with both Sainz and Leclerc forced to lift their foot, slightly at 3, more markedly at 9 and 14. McLaren, however, proved to be by far the most effective and efficient in the central sector, a quality that we had already seen on display in free practice. However, let’s look at the data to go into more detail.
First of all, looking at the indices, we notice the high standard deviation for Ferrari (signal of low load) and the very high percentage at full throttle along Verstappen’s lap (signal of high load). Perez’s wake gives Verstappen 330 km/h at the end of the straight and the record time in the first sector, but it is Norris who takes center stage in the central part of the track, going through turns 4 and 5 faster than all his rivals and 7 e gaining over 1 tenth over Verstappen and Leclerc in the turn 5 stretch. Here the path of the Monegasque divides from that of the Dutchman, given that Max will manage to get closer to Norris, especially in the third sector, while Leclerc will continue to lose corner after corner, especially in 10. Hamilton’s Mercedes, slightly slower than what we saw on the first day, it does not behave very differently from the Ferrari, with only a few thousandths between the two for practically the entire lap, up to the 30 thousandths of difference at the finish line.
Ferrari disappointing more for the gap than for the position, the race remains to evaluate the gap
If on the eve of the Spanish weekend McLaren’s challenge to Red Bull was predictable, as was a gap for Mercedes of around 3 tenths from pole, what is disappointing is Ferrari’s gap, which with 3 and a half tenths behind Leclerc and Sainz certifies a difficulty beyond expectations, once again in contrast with Friday’s impressions. Even though Leclerc made a mistake at Turn 5, the car’s limit was not particularly far from this performance and, also considering the efforts made on the aerodynamic front, suffering this level of delay is a hard blow for the Maranello team to take, especially seeing a car that seems to offer an always critical level of grip. However, some further considerations remain to be made: first of all Ferrari he never found extra grip in qualifying throughout the season, and it is unlikely that it will do so between now and the end of the year, and even in Barcelona we saw the opponents shift into higher gear right at the end, while the SF24 had already reached its limit. The second thing to consider is that the impression is that the choice of a slightly lower load level appears deliberate in the red house, with Vasseur citing on Friday the rubberizing of the track as a favorable factor, and, after qualifying, the expected drop in temperatures for the race as an aspect that should benefit the red. This last aspect is a bit of a surprise, but it seems to take into account the fact that with colder air you can reduce the aerodynamics slightly without losing downforce points.
The race for answers
To dispel doubts, both about Ferrari and the rest of the group, at this point it is necessary to see how the race unfolds. RedBull should have greatly improved tire degradation with the set-up changes, but Norris’ simulations have always been remarkable, so who between the two will have the upper hand is the first question to ask. The second is whether Ferrari will emerge in the race, especially regarding tire degradation, or whether it will remain detached and distant. Mercedes has always appeared weak in the pace simulations, therefore attackable, but it remains to be established whether Leclerc and Sainz will have enough to attack or not. From there passes the judgment on the updates brought to the track by the Maranello team in recent months.
#Telemetry #Qualifying #Barcelona #data #Ferrari #disappointment
