The Spanish Grand Prix uncovered an issue that has adopted Ferrari from the start of the 2025 System 1 championship, specifically managing journey peak, and in addition highlighted the distinction with McLaren, notably how the MCL39 is outperforming its rivals.
It’s no secret that Ferrari, because the first race weekend of the season, has been pressured to juggle its journey heights, continually attempting to maintain the automobile as little as attainable to maximise aerodynamic load, whereas additionally elevating it simply sufficient to keep away from extreme plank put on.
This is a matter a number of groups face, however for Ferrari, it’s much more essential within the battle on the entrance. On the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain — a observe stuffed with high-speed corners the place the automobile tends to compress — this limitation turned clear. To completely perceive it, we have to step again a bit.
Like Ferrari, McLaren additionally tends to run the automobile low, and at occasions the MCL39 has proven porpoising. As reported on Friday, the Woking drivers weren’t pushing to absolutely the restrict in high-speed corners like Flip 9 or 14, the place the ground usually scraped the observe, barely unsettling the automobile.
After analyzing Friday’s information, McLaren took a small step on Saturday, persevering with to stay with the porpoising — a bouncing impact that additionally explains why the MCL39 was scraping the observe floor the day earlier than. Regardless of its robust downforce, high-speed corners have by no means been McLaren’s strongest go well with; the automobile shines in different areas.
Why is that this related to Ferrari? To know, it’s helpful to look at the race of the Ferrari drivers — particularly Charles Leclerc, who stays the Maranello workforce’s fundamental reference level and greatest interpreter of the often-nervous SF-25.
The journey peak challenge turned notably fascinating through the second stint, when Charles Leclerc appeared in a position to match the tempo of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who was main on the time. After all, the Monegasque had stopped earlier, figuring out he had two units of mediums that may give him extra constant degradation, however the subject of velocity by lengthy corners stays key.
Ferrari pushed aggressively to maintain tempo. Trying on the velocity by quicker corners — the place defending the front-left tyre is essential — it’s clear that Charles Leclerc was pushing arduous in these sectors, whereas McLaren was managing. This was seen in turns like 3, 9, 13, and 14 — displaying that Ferrari needed to power the tempo to maintain up, whereas struggling extra within the slower sections, the place McLaren had higher rear grip.
The Monegasque driver pitted after 40 laps, each to make use of one other medium set and to cleverly keep away from visitors. A number of laps later, McLaren revealed what it nonetheless had in hand — a mandatory transfer as Woking’s strategists had began to fret that Max Verstappen, on a three-stop technique, may grow to be a menace. Regardless of operating tyres about 20 laps older, Oscar Piastri was in a position to improve his tempo by a number of tenths, pushing by high-speed corners the place earlier he had been managing. The change in tempo was so dramatic that he was in a position to match Charles Leclerc’s occasions, regardless of the Ferrari driver having simply pitted for recent tyres of the identical compound.
This helps clarify the distinction in race tempo, however it additionally ties again to the unresolved challenge of journey peak. Pushing in high-speed corners — particularly when attempting to run the automobile low like Ferrari does — can improve plank put on, and it’s no shock that McLaren was initially conservative in these areas.
On the similar time, radio messages spotlight the difficulty, as Ferrari’s journey peak issues additionally confirmed in radio messages despatched to each drivers through the race. First, they had been instructed to do elevate and coast earlier than Flip 1 (and typically Flip 10) — lifting off the throttle barely sooner than traditional. Whereas this helps handle tyre and gas consumption, it additionally reduces plank put on. Much more fascinating was what occurred on the primary straight. Through the years, bumps have shaped within the asphalt as a result of velocity and stress. The decrease the automobile, the better the danger of hitting them — which ends up in put on on the plank and a lack of high velocity. Through the race, Ferrari repeatedly requested the drivers to vary their line to discover a smoother space.
However there’s a drawback: since practically all vehicles take the quickest line, rubber marbles accumulate off the racing line. Transferring into these can cut back grip even additional. That’s the reason there have been inside radio discussions about learn how to keep away from the bumps with out ending up on the marbles. This ties again to the request for elevate and coast earlier than heavy braking zones — a request made even after the Security Automobile interval, regardless of the vehicles operating more energizing tyres and having burned off extra gas. It additional signifies the actual motivation behind the instruction. In the end, Ferrari continues to be as aggressive as attainable, however it’s clear that the Maranello workforce must introduce modifications to repair an issue that has been holding it again for much too lengthy.
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