Qualifying in Monte Carlo was a hard-fought one, until the last lap of Q3, where then Charles Leclerc he placed the shot and once again recorded the best lap, with a gap, compared to the second place. Behind the Monegasque was an amazing finisher Oscar Piastri with a McLaren MCL38 which has performed well so far and has found the right balance, beating Mercedes and above all Red Bull today. Andrea Stella’s engineers found a better balance which allowed the Australian, who came close to ruining the party, to exalt himself in particular Ferrari. Third was Carlos Sainzwho after a difficult start to the weekend, managed to find the right lap in Q3, putting his SF-24 high.
Ferrari makes the difference at slow speeds and manages to make the most of the power of the Power Unit
The data that emerge at the end of the Qualification are those of an SF-24 which confirmed itself as the ‘queen’ of slow speed in Munich. That hasn’t always been a strong point of this machine, especially when you have to set adjustments for a wide range of curves. Jock Clear spoke about this at Imola, with the update aimed at making the SF-24 more competitive in the various types of corners, an aspect that is less relevant in Monte Carlo because the technicians prefer low speeds. In this sense the Maranello engineers managed to extract a lot of load from their single-seater and afford it too very smooth adjustments which are useful for suffering bumps less and gripping curbs better. In the slower sections the Ferrari was undoubtedly the best car, making the difference over the competition, with Charles Leclerc having a very particular approach.
Taking advantage of the SF-24’s superiority in slow speed, the Monegasque tThere is also a particular approach that it sacrifices a little entry and corner speed in order to improve exit and, in doing so, also have an advantage in reaching. It is evident in the sections of Portier and Anthony Noghes, where Leclerc then has better traction, which then also translates into better straight-line speed than even the Red Bull. There Max Verstappen lost a lot, managing to gain in the first sector, but then having to fight in the other two to be at the top of the standings. Ferrari’s advantage was thus that of exploiting the slow corners and managing to gain even in the lead, then attacking the curbs of the swimming pools and making up for the reactivity that the SF-24 lacks, which then manages to reach the end of the lap with tires in good condition, without penalizing the traction coming out of the last corner. Despite that “The only lap that when I look back at it I say there was nothing left to come up with is the 2022 one which I never finished, but I’m satisfied and we must be happy with the great work we did today” Leclerc said.
McLaren finds its balance and Oscar Piastri scores the best ideal lap, Verstappen struggling with an ‘undriveable’ Red Bull.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard the riders of the Milton Keynes team complain about a very difficult RB20 to drive. However, this usually happened during free practice, and then managing to find the key to the problem at the end of the day, also with the help of the simulator. This did not happen in Munich, where Verstappen and Perez suffered terribly from the bumps and bumpsas well as having an RB20 that couldn’t attack curbs like others, forcing their pilots there to travel further, compared to Ferrari for example. In Qualifying we saw a combative and fast Max Verstappen in the first sector, where it made a difference at the Casinobut as evidenced by his mistake, he was very much on edge. On the rest of the circuit, however, he lost a lot at the Porto Chicanea very slow stretch and with some curbs to attack, and it came out badly from the Portierfailing to exploit all the power of its engine in the sprint, resulting in significant gaps. “I would challenge anyone to drive my car here. I might not have taken risks, but I would have been left behind.” said the Dutchman. And Sergio Perez’s disastrous result testifies to this.
McLaren has a weak point in slow speed, which has been greatly improved with the Miami updates and painstaking setup work. Ferrari’s advantage remained, even if in the overall lap the difference was not large, far from it. The latest updates from Woking have improved a lot in this detail, even in the race and not just in Qualifying. Yesterday the MCL38 was very strong in medium speed corners and managed to keep the gap down on the straight. “Ferrari is strong in slow corners all weekend, but also all year round. For us, being ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull is positive.” Lando Norris said at the end of the day. The best time of the day could have been Oscar Piastri, who however was unable to put together the ideal lap of 1.10.200 which would have put him on pole “But we have to give credit to Leclerc, who is incredibly fast.” The mistakes that cost him pole were at the Porto Chicane and at the Tabaccaio, but even the Monegasque himself didn’t do a perfect lap at the end of Q3, making a mistake at the Piscine compared to his first attempt. At McLaren the difference between the two drivers, in favor of Piastri, was above all in the Casino area, as well as between Sainz and Leclerc in favor of the Monegasque.
