F1, the Ferrari strategy that Sainz and Leclerc mocked the McLarens in Japan

In Japan, the Prancing Horse wall took the risk of taking Charles out of traffic and giving Carlos a better approach: so the reds went up despite a disappointing qualifying.

April 8 – 7.06pm – MILAN

“If I was happy to finish fourth, I would probably have stayed home,” Charles Leclerc said after the checkered flag. And it’s not hard to imagine that his state of mind was that of many fans who, at home, set their morning alarms on Sunday to follow Ferrari in the difficult challenge of Suzuka. Yet the Japanese doctor gave an interesting proof and some more certainty: if on the one hand the direction you see SF-24 reduce the gap from half Red Bull compared to last year, on the other hand the final result is a perfect manifestation of the work path set by Fred Vasseur. The team leader was very clear about the need to be bold, both in the design phase and on the track with setup and strategies: and it was the technique devised by the wall that played the decisive role – thanks to excellent tire management – to allow the Cavallino to overcome competition from McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin. So Ferrari overturned a weekend that risked suffering from subpar qualifying and a poor start on the dirty side of the track.

FERRARI TACTICAL MASTERPIECE

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Although often criticized in the past, this time the Ferrari wall was not good over 53 rounds of the Japanese GP. The real masterpiece was allowing Leclerc to recover from eighth place to the final fourth, taking advantage of some car and tire kindness in the race. The Monegasque, who found himself seventh at the start after passing Hamilton on the track, was actually asked to greatly extend the life of the new central Pirellis fitted for the second start. Charles, who in the first rounds found it difficult to launch a real attack against him Plate, losing a lot of time behind the young Australian and Fernando Alonso, waited patiently without forcing a pass. During the 13th round, after the hole stopped for two straight opponents, then he finally had a free way even found himself leading the race due to pit stops by Sainz, Perez (lap 15) and Verstappen (lap 16).

“PLAN C” of LECLERC.

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It is in this phase that, after evaluating the still competitive times of Ferrari number 16, the strategists began to seriously consider the theory of continuing with “Plan C” and that is to say about what would happen next. dangerous technique on pit stops only. Without wasting time fighting with Verstappen and then with Perez, who at the same time was going very fast on new tires, and despite a small mistake in turn 9, Leclerc immediately hinted that he could play on the damage against Norris, albeit by one less station. The Briton from McLaren actually only got a tenth per lap from Leclerc despite having already changed tires on lap 11, ahead of all his top rivals. Thus, Charles was able to defend the position without ever being attacked until the 26th lap, when he returned to the pits to change to the hard Pirellis that would have allowed him to reach the checkered flag.

MCLA ERROR?

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This is where it probably is McLaren he made errors of judgment, worrying about the possible the way down and Russell: the Mercedes driver had already stopped on lap 22 and was moving up quickly thanks to the new set of Hard, with a great chance to overtake Norris (which actually happened) and Leclerc. So, the Woking engineers called Lando into the pits for a second tire change on lap 26, ignoring the fact that at the same time Charles was also returning to the pit lane. Given that he did not manage to pass the Ferrari driver (as he did a few minutes earlier with Verstappen and Perez) nor give him a chance. the way downfor example by stopping on lap 25, at that time the Englishman had only one way to beat his opponent: considering how difficult it is in Suzuka to closely follow another car with a similar speed (and this had already been seen at the start of the GP with Leclerc and Piastri) McLaren had to increase Norris’ second time to allow him to run the short final stage. And then give him a chance to attack Ferrari in the final laps with clean tires. Furthermore, Lando would also theoretically have a tire to stay on the track for a few more laps without losing too much time: he was actually on a set of new Hard tires fitted only on lap 11, and therefore with only 15 laps. behind him during the second stop. A few considering that, with the same compound, the McLaren driver eventually completed 27 laps without even experiencing a drop in performance.

COMPLETE STRATEGY

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There is no doubt however the best strategy was the double stop strategy, given that finishing the race in one stop was only possible at the cost of sacrificing clean performance on the altar of management. A strong choice for Leclerc, who was able to lead for the whole race without being disturbed by the congestion of slower riders in front, but which would not work in the same way as Sainz: it is not a coincidence that the best time of Charles – which was also set in the last lap to prove how Monegasque was and kindness to the tires – it was only ninth fastest in the race, also behind Hamilton, Russell, Alonso, Piastri and even Sargeant. So the perfect strategy was that of Verstappen, Perez and Sainz. The same thing that McLaren could not do: Red Bull and Ferrari were not afraid to lose a few positions in the pits due to the delay in the pits, knowing that with new tires they could push towards the end without much effort to complete the pass. and move up the group.

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CHIEF SCIENTIST

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In particular, the best conduct of the race Carlos Sainz Jrwho in the second round completed 21 laps with the Medium set ready to go at the start (compared to 15 for Norris on the new Hards): widening the middle section of the race actually proved to be a useful option allowing the Spaniard to outpace his rivals on the podium in the final 17 laps, completely covered by a new set of hard Pirellis with no management concerns. However, an unusual task, given that Carlos left in seventh place, having to pass Hamilton, Norris and Leclerc himself on the way (Russell stopped in the pits) to get the third step of the podium.