The tenth stage of the world championship 2024 it goes into the archive. A Grand Prix certainly not as deficient as the Canadian one for the redhead who however, even in Spain, does not achieve the desired objective. Yet the conditions were there. Above all, the desire for revenge, nourished with great passion by Frederic Vasseur. Then he update. Updates to the bottom and in the belly area which foreshadowed a further leap in quality for the prancing Horse. Wasn’t that the case? Too difficult to understand at the moment. The data study that will be carried out over the next few days will certainly be useful for the team Maranello. This is considering that next Friday we will return to racing, this time in Austriain home Red Bullfor the second appointment of triple headers.
Step back. Ferrari he suffered all Friday. The two SF-24 they took to the track and, for the first time during the competitive campaign 2024, the two Italian cars were not balanced. Excess rotation and instability at the rear axle when cornering at high speed. This is why the night in the simulator was long. Work that undoubtedly paid off, as Saturday was a completely different story. The aforementioned problems have been smoothed out but still present. If we add to this that the “two Carlos” were not able to maximize the first sector in qualifying, the circle closes. Fifth and sixth place finish which is confirmed today in the race. Without infamy and without praise, as they say.
Red Bull remains the strongest car of the lot. That of the Dutchman though, given that Checo Perez he continues to display performances that are very far from those of his teammate. This despite the two-year contract renewal that he had to offer boost mental to the Mexican. Verstappen instead he knows how to make full use of his car and today, in defiance of those who gave him difficulty, he “explained” to everyone why on the bodywork of his colorful racing car blue racing he makes his presence known sticker of number 1. Similar discussion for McLaren. There MCL38 It’s a great car and the upgrades Of You love me they are working great. As happened in Red Bullin this weekend Norris gave a big paycheck to the partner of garage.
He beat him in qualifying and took the polewhile in the race he crossed the finish line less than three seconds from leader of the world championship. Then there is Mercedes that if until Grand Prix Of Monk it seemed like a team in serious difficulty, lost in technical problems and unable to hit the correct working point of the W15with the recent ones update he “disciplined” the black arrows inlaid with black. She did it so well that in Canada George Russell he took it pole and then throwing away the chance of winning, today, the next Ferrari driver Lewis Hamiltonwins the third step of the podium, followed closely by his teammate and compatriot who finishes the race in fourth place.
F1, Ferrari diversifies its strategy and Mercedes almost comes back
We then arrive at the red one. As mentioned, the general competitiveness of the Italian car was not up to the standards of the leaders. The only weapon that Ferrari could use in the race was the low degradation. Tire wear which actually seemed very good on the car Leclercless on that one yes Sainz. For this reason the wall box he decided to try an aggressive tactic with the number 16. A strategy that could certainly pay off. Let’s proceed in order though. Charles he felt very comfortable with them Pirelli with a red band, the Soft so to speak, right from free practice. Which is why in the Fp3 he chose them to test the SF-24 in configuration high fuel. One stint of 6 laps where it showed a positive degradation, as the times obtained were decreasing after the time attack.
This study meant that, during the briefing on Sunday morning, one of the strategies to keep warm was precisely to finish the race with the Soft. In doing so the Monegasque tried to extend the lead as much as possible stint of the race, always carried out with the tire circled in red. He did it by differentiating work from Sainz than on this one instead compound it didn’t fit perfectly. Yet he had started well Carlos overcoming Charles. But then he was not able to manage the degradation equally well. On the contrary Leclerc he continued “his relationship” with her Soft until lap 23. An element that still allowed him to maintain the lead Sainz until the second stintwhere he then chose to put on the tyres Medium.
In this part of the race Charles he showed a slightly too aggressive attitude during the first laps. Because of this Bryan Bozzi, his track engineer, suggested he manage the tires in high-speed corners. As happened with the first one run on SoftTherefore, Leclerc he partialed the accelerator in all the high speed corners. The measure was necessary to avoid putting too much energy into the casing, raising the operating temperatures and, consequently, shortening the useful life of the tyres. The plan worked, so much so that another 22 rounds were put on the farm with these “footwear”, recovering lap time on his opponents even if in terms of type of tire it was not satisfactory as, according to the Monegasque, in the phases of cornering a slight but continuous lateral slip made its presence felt.
We therefore arrive at the third and final part of the race, where Leclerc he chose the compounds again Soft. As soon as he got on the track the remote garage he indicated a specific one to him laptime to follow which, calculations in hand, would have given him the possibility of competing for fourth place with Russell at the end. Charles he respected the dictates to the letter, overtook his slower teammate and with fast laps, almost maintaining the pace of Verstappen And Norrisgradually closed the gap on the pilot of the Mercedes. With five steps to go the connection now seemed to be a done deal. However Russell he defended himself great, he squeezed his ability to the limit W15 with the Hard and was able to resist the attack by a whisker. One more round and for Charles the game was over, as the Monegasque crossed the finish line Spanish Grand Prix literally glued to the speaker Mercedes Of George. Sin.
