Analyzing the 2024 Formula 1 race weekend in Imola, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc raised doubts regarding some strange maneuvers in terms of engine strategy that rivals Red Bull and McLaren would have made on the straight, especially in qualifying.
It’s a Charles Leclerc the one who emerges from the race is optimistic Formula 1 Emilia Romagna GP 2024 in which for the first time he had available on his Ferrari SF-24 the new update package. The Monegasque achieved his first career podium on the Imola circuit and has showed continuity of pace who, net of the mistake at the end which made him lose ground to the frenzied Lando Norris, allowed him to close the race just six seconds behind winner Max Verstappen on a track more suited to the characteristics of Red Bull and McLaren than those of the single-seater from the Maranello team.
“I think my pace was the most constant of all, because I lapped in the low 1’20” practically the whole race. It was the others who had a weirder race; McLaren managed a little more with Norris, but Piastri was pushing behind me. At the end I couldn’t push on the tire anymore, but I had to try something. I have no regrets because we did everything we could do, we had to do something different and I pushed in the first part of the race, but in the end we missed the pace of the McLaren which was very strong. I’m more confident than yesterday, not happy with today’s result” the Monegasque said after the race to Sky Sport, analyzing his performance in the Emilia Romagna GP.
The 26-year-old from Monte Carlo himself knows that, having practically closed the gap in the race with his rivals, to take that last decisive step we will now need to improve in qualifying where, even in Imola, the reds seem to lack those two tenths that would allow them to compete for pole position with the Red Bulls and, after the impressive package of updates brought to Miami, also the McLarens. Talking about this, during the post-race interview with Mara Sangiorgio, however Charles Leclerc has raised suspicions regarding what emerged from the analysis of the telemetry of the fastest laps in the decisive Q3 of qualifying on Saturday:
Leclerc is also the fastest in FP2 at Imola: the Ferrari SF-24 Evo convinces, Red Bull in difficulty
“Yesterday I didn’t understand the gap accumulated in the first sector, but Looking at the data, there was something strange that Red Bull and McLaren did in terms of engine strategy. In fact, we lost everything on the starting straight, while in all the other corners we were faster or in any case in line with them” the Monegasque said without however going into detail regarding his doubts.
Beyond public statements, Leclerc himself then revealed that for Ferrari what happened in qualifying at Imola is very clear (also in this case, however, without giving further explanations) thus increasing the aura of mystery around the suspicions raised on the alleged strange maneuvers with the engine that Red Bull and McLaren would have performed on the straight in their fast laps: “On a track like this every time you get close to about a second behind you if you don’t have a significantly better pace you don’t have enough to overtake, you can see when Norris was faster than Verstappen, but when he caught up to him he wasn’t able to get over it. We expected a similar match. We need to sort out qualifying, but I think what happened yesterday is clear, and perhaps Imola is not the optimal track to judge the updates we have brought” the driver of the Maranello team in fact commented without however clarifying what he was referring to.
