The Spanish Grand Prix uncovered an issue that has adopted Ferrari from the start of the 2025 Method 1 championship, particularly managing trip top, and likewise highlighted the distinction with McLaren, significantly how the MCL39 is outperforming its rivals.
It’s no secret that Ferrari, for the reason that first race weekend of the season, has been pressured to juggle its trip heights, always making an attempt to maintain the automotive as little as doable 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 combat on the entrance. On the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain — a monitor stuffed with high-speed corners the place the automotive 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 automotive 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 typically scraped the monitor, barely unsettling the automotive.
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 monitor floor the day earlier than. Regardless of its sturdy downforce, high-speed corners have by no means been McLaren’s strongest go well with; the automotive 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 group’s primary reference level and greatest interpreter of the often-nervous SF-25.
The trip top difficulty turned significantly attention-grabbing throughout the second stint, when Charles Leclerc appeared capable of match the tempo of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who was main on the time. In fact, the Monegasque had stopped earlier, understanding he had two units of mediums that will give him extra constant degradation, however the matter of velocity by lengthy corners stays key.
Ferrari pushed aggressively to maintain tempo. Wanting on the velocity by sooner corners — the place defending the front-left tyre is essential — it’s clear that Charles Leclerc was pushing laborious 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 essential transfer as Woking’s strategists had began to fret that Max Verstappen, on a three-stop technique, might develop into a menace. Regardless of operating tyres about 20 laps older, Oscar Piastri was capable of enhance 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 capable of match Charles Leclerc’s occasions, regardless of the Ferrari driver having simply pitted for contemporary tyres of the identical compound.
This helps clarify the distinction in race tempo, nevertheless it additionally ties again to the unresolved difficulty of trip top. Pushing in high-speed corners — particularly when making an attempt to run the automotive low like Ferrari does — can enhance plank put on, and it’s no shock that McLaren was initially conservative in these areas.
On the similar time, radio messages spotlight the problem, as Ferrari’s trip top issues additionally confirmed in radio messages despatched to each drivers throughout the race. First, they had been advised to do elevate and coast earlier than Flip 1 (and generally Flip 10) — lifting off the throttle barely sooner than ordinary. Whereas this helps handle tyre and gas consumption, it additionally reduces plank put on. Much more attention-grabbing was what occurred on the principle straight. Through the years, bumps have fashioned within the asphalt on account of velocity and stress. The decrease the automotive, the better the chance of hitting them — which results 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 downside: 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 inner radio discussions about find out 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 Automotive interval, regardless of the vehicles operating brisker tyres and having burned off extra gas. It additional signifies the actual motivation behind the instruction. Finally, Ferrari continues to be as aggressive as doable, however it’s clear that the Maranello group must introduce modifications to repair an issue that has been holding it again for a lot too lengthy.
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