Verstappen-Leclerc, them again
Among everyone’s mistakes, in a chaotic session finale, they come out the usual two names for the front row: Verstappen and Leclerc. The Dutchman, incredulous at the radio communication of the pole, brings home yet another result, taking advantage of a sudden and sensational debacle of what seemed like his number 1 rival for the first position, namely Lando Norris.
The response to the Lambiase radio team was emblematic.”but what happened to the others?”. Until SQ2, qualification seemed in the hands of the McLarens, who, even if they lost their way in SQ3, between Norris’ mistake and the bad management of the softs, showed a potential that appeared truly remarkable for what is in fact a B version of the MCL38. The “new” car from the Woking team appeared in great shape in the first sector, in the fast sections but also, completely surprisingly, in the slow and twisty central section. Looking at the overall performance, one almost doubts that the engineers led by Andrea Stella have found an excellent step from an aerodynamic point of viewwhich could leave the team with greater ease when optimizing the slow part with the related adjustments to the suspension set-up.
Norris’ bad mistake and poor management of the soft tire made them disappear to the rear, but, from what we saw on the track, the two McLarens remain special observers both for a good comeback in the sprint and for an outstanding performance for the entire weekend.
The direct comparison in the front row
If we look at the detailed analysis of the data from the direct comparison between Leclerc and Verstappen we notice a series of interesting things. First of all we note that Leclerc suffered a problem at the first corner, both at the entrance and at the end, where it leaves a total of over 1 tenth, while for the rest of the first sector the gap between the two remains almost unchanged, with the SF24 having similar chronometrically similar performances to the RB20, both in the fast curves and in the medium fast. If the first thought for a problem so early in the lap could go towards the now well-known theme of the tires not being ready, the impression is that this time the preparation work was perfect and the high temperatures completely canceled out the problem, while the difficulty seems more to be found in the lack of confidence with the soft tyre, a problem that Norris also encountered (which however cost him much more). Leclerc may have suffered from not knowing the level of grip in the compound following the morning’s accident, which deprived him of the only free practice session of the weekend, but at the same time he is to be applauded for his front row performance found practically without free. Returning to the data, overall we notice a Verstappen with a little more reach with reasonable regularity, while Leclerc brings higher minimum speeds into corners, probably a sign of a slightly greater level of aerodynamic load chosen by Ferrari. In the second sector Leclerc leaves about half a tenth ahead, thanks to a slightly more unloaded RB20 and with generally better efficiency with open DRS, but then in the slowest section of all it is Verstappen who loses 1 and a half tenths. The SF24 confirms its braking strength and, recording a good performance on the twisty section, shows that it has a well-chosen set-up, designed as the best compromise between the suspension stiffness of the fast sections, and the agility and response necessary in the slow sections. In the difficult turn 16, both Verstappen and Leclerc make mistakes, but the Dutchman manages to jump about 1 tenth ahead thanks to super traction at that point in his RedBull and the gap then remains unchanged until the finish line.
Similar turns, opposite words
If the performances were almost similar, what was decidedly different was the tone of the subsequent statements from the two drivers. Verstappen in fact spoke of a bad feeling with the car which, especially with the soft tyre, was decidedly worse to drive. On the contrary, Leclerc was very satisfied with the lap and the tire preparation work and all this shows what the gap between the two cars is at the moment. Collapse for Mercedes instead, which did not show the good things it had seen in free practice, with both Russel and Hamilon’s W15s both eliminated in SQ2. The car that performed well in the morning session once again transformed as the conditions of the session changed and both Russell and Hamilton, once past the first cut, no longer seemed to be in the running at all.
There Sprint promises to be interestingwith the Leclerc-Verstappen challenge, an amazing Daniel Ricciardo, fourth and the McLarens who will try to recover and with the curiosity to see a first important taste of the race pace.
