Formu1a.uno - Analysis: McLaren-Norris super binomial, why does Ricciardo struggle?

PHOTO CREDIT: McLaren Racing

The McLaren is not losing enamel. Lando Norris will long remember the MCL35M as the first car that, not only did he understand perfectly, it allowed him to hit that very subtle balance that allows him to stay on the limit for as long as necessary, avoiding mistakes. In addition to Sir Lewis Hamilton's radio certificate of esteem, “Such a great driver, Lando”, the Englishman claimed an extraordinary front row and the podium, probably the most deserved of the year.

He is making the difference in the fight with Ferrari up to now, in addition to the horsepower and the efficiency of the Mercedes Power Unit: 40 hp more than the drivers in red are more than compensating for Daniel Ricciardo's delay.

Nonetheless, Seidl, someone who has a deep knowledge of racing, does well not to underestimate Ferrari for the still long and uncertain continuation of this season. He knows perfectly well that many points have been left on track by the Italian team, sometimes due to small errors, others unfortunate as in Imola.

But it's fair to say that McLaren and Lando Norris were there when they had to. When those in front had a hard time. We have not only seen it in Austria, “which we have to be realistic, but it was also a suitable track for our car” according to Seidl. Norris took advantage of practically every gap from the start, setting the season very well with the team right from the tests.

In the last qualifying session, he was the driver who earned the most between Q2/Q3 about 7 tenths. Were it not for the accentuated understeer in the last two corners, he could also have claimed pole position.

The MCL35M is a super-efficient car that doesn't put a lot of energy on the tyres unless you decide to 'smash' them with setup. The C5 Soft 'disposable' compounds have certainly helped, on a track, albeit a demanding one also for the traction phase, but with fewer heating problems than the front ones compared to Baku, with the MCL35M being able to make the most of the extra. grip offered.

The Englishman brings his McLaren to impressive levels as well as his trend, which even shows a slight approach to Mercedes while Red Bull took off on the W12, on average 2 tenths ahead in the Austrian events.

The continuous innovations introduced by Red Bull and McLaren are working, while for Brackley, it is now evident that the optimization of the W12 is not enough, so much so that the first real updates for the car of the world champion team will arrive at Silverstone.

Aside from a more normal performance in Spain, Lando has developed very well every weekend. If a positive result was expected in Austria for the characteristics of the track that greatly rewards efficiency, the Monaco podium, taking advantage of Leclerc's debacle and Bottas' problem, it seems, is the photograph of this first part of the season.

The new floor brought to the second Austrian race by McLaren. 7 flow diverters have been added to move the Y250 vortex more externally.
Illustration By: Rosario Giuliana

Ferrari and McLaren are very close, but the Woking team made no mistakes and are deservedly ahead.

We know the MCL35M is a very effective car on the straight, it is not so much the one with the highest speeds, but it is the one that reaches them first, even if traction is not the real strength, especially towards the SF21. After an initial and more uncertain phase of understanding, which also happened to Red Bull, the updates have improved the car's loading points, making it more consistent especially in the distances and out of corners when the track allows you not to jump on curbs or bumps.

Stability was affected in a positive way, automatically also the ease of balancing it. This would have helped Norris to boost performance and Daniel to get closer to finding a car with more load in the medium-slow sections.

The new rear endplate used by the MCL35Ms in France.
Illustration By: Rosario Giuliana

In this phase, McLaren seems to have reached a 'beneficial' efficiency, not too far macroscopically to the Ferrari SF90. Clearly, the regulatory aerodynamic cut has flattened the differences with a W12 that has seen the strengths of the 2020 car eliminated.

Why does Ricciardo struggle? In the ninth race, a new driver, especially if he is of high profile and experienced like him, should be able to be quite close to any teammate but this was not the case for the Australian.

The new front wing was used by McLaren in Spain.
Illustration By: Rosario Giuliana

The good race at the Red Bull Ring only partially redeemed the disappointing qualifying but above all, it gave us some more information on why the difference is so great.

According to the data collected, Daniel still loses a lot compared to Norris in the slow medium corners. The more the corner is high speed, the more the difference with Norris becomes thinner. It is mainly a matter of interpretation.

“We have made some important steps forward from the start of the season to now, but to get the most out of our car we need a special driving style which is not natural for Daniel. For this reason, it fails to be effective,” Seidl said a few weeks ago.

Ricciardo has certainly not unlearned anything, but he has driven all high-downforce, high-rake cars throughout his career; Red Bulls were undoubted, as was Renault, especially the one from two years ago, albeit with a lot of drag. The MCL35M, on the other hand, is very different and uses a much less pushed rake setup, slightly lower than last season's MCL35.

Before the Baku GP, the Australian spent many days in the simulator trying to take a step back and figure out what was wrong with his driving style. “I'm trying to adapt it to make the car work better. Sometimes it's frustrating to see that what you've been doing for years with other cars doesn't work, but as I said, I'm taking a step back and I think this has led me to understand a few things about how to better interpret the car”.

This corner approach aspect is something that requires a substantial change of approach. In Austria, we saw Norris bring a lot of speed into the corner by often sacrificing the apex of medium-slow corners by clearly prioritizing wider and faster sliding. This minimizes traction as much as possible which is not the strongest point of McLaren, unlike Ferrari. Take full advantage of mid-corner stability, further improved with the latest updates, rather than letting yourself be slowed down by a vain search for agility when entering and exiting. Then let the aerodynamic efficiency and the Mercedes power unit, does the rest on the straight.

Ricciardo otherwise seems to feel better using the curbs more, closing the car more to straighten it quickly on the way out, a bit like Leclerc drives the SF21 with corner set a lot to V-shaped and less to U. But with the MCL35M it doesn't work. It's a question of feeling, style, habit and obviously trust.

The key can be to trust the car a lot more when driving, modifying some of its fundamental preferences even using a little more 'dirty' load than Lando if necessary and a little better understeer. An even stiffer and more drag car could help.

Written By: Giuliano Duchessa and Piergiuseppe Donadoni

Illustrations By: Rosario Giuliana

Original Link: https://www.formu1a.uno/analisi-binomio-mclaren-norris-super-perche-ricciardo-fatica/

Formu1a.uno - Analysis: Mercedes W12, not lacking power but aerodynamic efficiency.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport

It has become a Verstappen show in this 2021 FIA F1 World Championship. At the 2020 'copy-paste' season we never really believed it because of the regulatory changes, once analyzed in detail, were much more important and radical than initially expected.

Being then tied to the 2020 cars, it is clear that those who carried a car with some endemic defects such as Ferrari, could not expect to fight to win the world championship this year; however, there was also the risk that those starting from a very competitive car could lose performance due to a bad adaptation to the regulatory changes. So it was, in the case of Mercedes and Racing Point, now Aston Martin.

In the case of Mercedes, that perfect combination of aerodynamics and mechanics found with the W11 has been broken also thanks to a forward movement of the engine and the pressure center. With further advancement of the latter (the greater aerodynamic load value generated by the single-seater), due to the 2021 regulatory changes, the rear has remained 'decompensated': the W12 thus works in a very small operating window. The setup changes have become rather limited to avoid problems on one or the other axle.

After a third of the world championship, we find ourselves with Verstappen and Red Bull at the top of the world championship. In the last five Grand Prix, the Dutchman recovered an impressive 46 points over Lewis Hamilton, 73 even Red Bull in a Mercedes.

The seven-time world champion entered the second Austrian weekend with good impressions. Unlike the RB16B, the W12 of the Austrian GP was in the same specification as the previous weekend and the improvements could only be found through an optimization of the setup.

The sectors of the Spielberg track: comparing the best sectors of the qualifying in the Styrian GP with those of the Q2 of the Austrian GP.
GRAPHICS CREDIT: Formu1a.uno

Last week Hamilton spent many hours in the Brackley simulator finding 'promising' setups, but which once brought to the track did not give the desired results. For this reason, from FP2, the W12 of Hamilton took a step backward, using the 'basic' set-up of the previous weekend (Styrian GP) that Valtteri Bottas had used in the first hour of practice.

The low temperatures on Friday helped Mercedes get closer to Max Verstappen's RB16B but when the tarmac exceeded 50°C, both W12s failed to extract the maximum from the C5 compound, also paying duty from Lando Norris’ McLaren. They weren't expecting it at Mercedes.

Third front wing in five GPs for Red Bull. New tweaks in the mainplane area, which connects to the 'neutral' part, and to the internal part of the flaps where the important Y250 vortex comes off.
Illustration By - Rosario Giuliana

Max Verstappen instead took to the track with a further updated RB16B: new front wing specification, the third in five races, new bargeboards, and the confirmation of the shark tooth diffuser, also available to Sergio Perez this weekend.

The Dutchman, together with his staff of technicians, opted for a slightly heavier set-up than the one used the previous week to get the C5 compound working at its best in qualifying.

The speeds scored by Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the points monitored by the FIA ​​in the Styria and Austrian GPs. 
GRAPHICS CREDIT: Formu1a.uno

This allowed the W12 to halve the gap on the straight (just over a tenth), however, the same gap opened up in the corners, thanks to not full exploitation of the C5 compound by Lewis Hamilton's W12. Also interesting is the comparison with the equal an equally powered MCL35M (Mercedes power unit): Hamilton lost almost 5 tenths to Lando Norris on the straight, recovering a couple of them in the corners, with an excellent W12 also in place against Red Bull.

There is no doubt that the car of the world championship team is the one, together with Aston Martin, to have suffered the most from the regulatory changes. In addition to no longer having that perfect combination of aerodynamics and mechanics found with the W11, its important aerodynamic efficiency has also been canceled.

An engineer from a competing team told Formu1a.uno that Mercedes has taken a two-year step back from that point of view, returning to the values ​​of the much 'resistant' (to progress) W10.

We tried to verify this with the imagery available, comparing the rear wings used in the last three seasons in Austria by Mercedes, given that that macro aerodynamic component is one of the heaviest in terms of drag.

Differences in rear wings between the Mercedes of the last three seasons.
PHOTO COMPARISON: Formu1a.uno

The result is a very charged Mercedes at the rear compared to last season. This penalizes the W12 in the straights not only in comparison with Red Bull but also and above all with the McLaren-powered peer.

It is therefore not a question of engine and horsepower as Hamilton would like to believe. An advantage that until the French Grand was in favor of Mercedes, due to the problems manifested by the Japanese PU (Honda) in Bahrain, now solved thanks to the second Honda power unit brought to the Paul Ricard track. According to what has been gathered, the PUs are now very close both in qualifying and in race conditions with a gap quantified by the competitors in the order of 5 HP. According to Ferrari, the advantage is with Mercedes, however, according to Renault, the advantage is with Honda. But little changes given in the very small gap.

Rear aerodynamic downforce further lost by Lewis Hamilton during the Austrian GP: for over half the race there were no less than 30 points missing (the teams measure the aerodynamic load in points), which in Austria are equivalent to 6 tenths per lap initially, to climb then gradually the tyres wear out prematurely. This problem destroyed the aerodynamic balance of his W12, which started to slip and put too much stress on the rear tyres.

The Low Rake setup used by Mercedes and Aston Martin were penalized more by the 2021 regulatory changes.
Illustration By - Rosario Giuliana

"I think it was around lap 30, at the exit of turn 10 [the last corner]," Toto Wolff said. "There is a rather aggressive curb there. We saw that it was not a driving error but a problem with the component that failed ”.

So Hamilton was not only slower, but he also had more tyre wear; this forced Mercedes to make a second pit stop where the mechanics, in addition to the tyre change, also removed 1 degree of front wing to balance the car as the pressure center had moved 'too far forward'.

However, even without this major problem, Verstappen's Red Bull was unstoppable for the seven-time world champion. “I think we would have been satisfied with a second and third place, which was realistically the best we could have gotten; Max's pace was in fact too strong for us." Shovlin said.

The Mercedes W12, as already labeled last week, as a car that is now at the end of its development in its performance and understanding. "We haven't been particularly strong here in general," said the British engineer. “It doesn't show that much towards Red Bull, but from how we were put under pressure by McLaren in the second round. We have not made any real progress here in either race ”.

This is why the upgrade package for Silverstone is highly anticipated as it should help unlock further potential, directly and indirectly, from a car at its peak of understanding and performance. Will it be enough? "We have some new updates for Silverstone, but I don't think they will help us bridge the gap," said a grim Lewis Hamilton in the post-Austria interviews.

At Mercedes, however, they do not give up on defeat, hoping that even the characteristics of the latest tracks on which they raced have shifted the balance of power in the world championships. This is why Silverstone, which has always been a great Mercedes stronghold, does not become an exam only for Ferrari but also and above all for the world champions.

Written By: Piergiuseppe Donadoni

Illustration By: Rosario Giuliana

Original Story: https://www.formu1a.uno/analisi-mercedes-w12-non-manca-potenza-ma-efficienza-aerodinamica/

Formu1a.uno - Analysis: this is how Red Bull turned the World Championship upside down.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

May 9, 2021: Spanish GP was the last Mercedes win with Lewis Hamilton. From then on, four consecutive victories for Red Bull: Monaco, Baku, Paul Ricard, and Austria 1.

The latter is “the most dominant of the year”, according to Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner. Verstappen's advantage in the drivers' championship does not say everything because it is true but up to a certain point: in fact, it could have been higher. The Dutchman could have won in Bahrain and very calmly finished ahead in Baku.

Lewis apparently seems to be extracting maximum performance from what he has. A little. And while it is a merit, at the same time it is worrying because it doesn't seem enough. 

The Red Bull Ring is always an important benchmark. On a track like this, with three DRS zones, if you can keep your competitor out of these, it means you have more. And the RB16B actually had more all weekend. When Hamilton came into the pits for his second stop, which is useful to take the fastest lap and the extra point, his delay was nearly 18 seconds, a gap/space of two and a half tenths per lap. Real.

In just over a month, Red Bull overturned the world championships, with what is to be considered in all respects a decisive 'world' acceleration.

How? Thanks to some aerodynamic updates brought to the track in the last GPs, which also made it possible to fully exploit the potential of the Portimao package, and to the recovery in terms of power, thanks to the PU number 2 introduced in the French GP by Honda.  

But let's take a step back, analyzing how Spielberg's domination came about for a world championship that is to be divided so far into two parts. The first, of continuous growth for the Mercedes team coupled with too many difficulties for Red Bull. The second, after the Spanish GP, with the decisive increase in performance (especially in the race) of the RB16B associated with a W12 instead of more 'development'.

We started in Bahrain with the belief that Red Bull could finally oust Mercedes from the role of the undisputed queen of F1, dictated by dominated pre-season tests. At least partially, so it was, even if the victory of the Grand Prix went to Lewis Hamilton.

However, in Sahkir some critical issues had emerged with the Honda power unit, which we had already talked about. Vibration problems had in fact resulted in the replacement of some electronic components (battery and control unit) on the cars of Perez, Gasly, and Tsunoda as well as requiring a less aggressive use of the hybrid part of the Japanese unit, which caused the RB16B to lose performance.

This, coupled with the small leap forward made by Mercedes with its power unit at Imola, had opened a slight gap in engine performance between the German power unit and Honda. Well compensated in qualifying by better use of the tyres by the Anglo-Austrian car, unlike the W12.

Thanks to a more efficient diffuser, Red Bull are able to use the spoon wing already brought to the track in Baku (V2) at the Paul Ricard.

In Portimao, Red Bull arrives with an important package of updates, which sees the implementation of new flow diverters and adjustments to the bottom and to the diffuser; the desired results are not seen. The same goes for the following weekend, in Barcelona.

The performance of the W12, on the other hand,  continues to grow so much that in the Spanish GP we witness what was to be considered as a real performance overtaking.

The steps of the world champion team went through an intrinsic improvement of the car. An attempt was made to better understand the car and to find that correct balance between the front and rear axles, undermined by the 2021 regulatory innovations and, not least, by the abolition of the DAS which allowed the W11 to quickly have the front wheels up to temperature.

While Red Bull, more in place right from the start, was trying to get performance through updates that were not giving the expected performance improvements on the track.

In Spain, Red Bull Racing enters with a high-downforce rear wing to protect the rear tyres. However, the lack of horsepower of the Honda power unit does not allow him to keep it for qualifying and race. Too much time lost on the forehand against the W12s due to an underperforming PU compared to the Mercedes one and a high-rake set-up that intrinsically increases the aerodynamic resistance of the car.

From the FP3s, the engineers, therefore, decided to use a lighter, spoon-shaped wing on both RB16Bs, however, causing a crisis in the management of temperatures on the rear axle. Mercedes dominates.

Between Monte Carlo and Baku, Red Bull has worked hard on updating its front wing. In the illustration, the specification at the beginning of the year (Old Spec) was compared with the one brought to the track in Azerbaijan (New Spec).

However, in the following GPs, the turning point arrives: two updates to the front wings, brought between Monaco and Baku, coupled with a novelty to the diffuser (only partial in Monaco, complete only in Styria), allow Red Bull to find a lot of 'efficient' downforce at the rear, opening that window of operation and setup that was the real weakness of the RB16B compared to the W12.

The novelties to the diffuser brought to the track by Red Bull between Monte Carlo and the Styrian GP concern the outter profile. First only partially, then along the entire length, having a sawtooth profile, according to the engineers of the Anglo-Austrian team, allows increasing the efficiency of use of the rake set-up.

News used immediately by Max Verstappen while Checo Perez is granted only in subsequent GPs if evaluated positively in terms of costs/benefits since the budget cap issue is anything but simple to manage.

Thus, while Mercedes is forced to use the rears more, adding drag to the W12, Red Bull manages to enter the French GP weekend with a rather minimal spoon wing, finding an optimal 'balance' for minimizing tyre problems on a very complicated track, especially on race day.

Over the weekend were Honda, thanks to the introduction of its second power unit, solved those annoying problems that had limited its performance for 5 Grand Prix.

From the GPS data, the engine performance of the RB16B returned to that of Bahrain, slightly ahead of Mercedes. Ferrari followed, with Renault closing the engine performance ranking to date. All grouped in 25 horsepower, no more, according to what was collected.

The (small) advantage of PU alone does not justify the important advantage in the straights of the RB16B. In between there is also the greater aerodynamic efficiency, which allows Red Bull to be able to use much less 'draggy' rear wings.

Returning to the horsepower increase of Honda power unit 2, according to Red Bull the step forward is to be found in the new oil specification that ExxonMobil has brought to the track: “We have new oil, so I think Exxon should take all the credit for the steps forward Lewis indicated. From the point of view of the engines, they are homologated, and the second unit is the same specification as the first ”.

We remind you that engineers are allowed to make changes to their power units to solve reliability problems.

All this while Mercedes is reaching its 'maximum' understanding of the W12, a car that has now been praised in terms of performance.

Lewis Hamilton understood this too. Hence his important outburst in the post-Styrian Grand Prix: "Red Bull continues to make improvements and it is clear that it has made many in recent races. It is currently impossible for us to keep up with them. Even in the long runs, they are better. They continue to make fast laps one after the other and on the straight, we lose a lot." claimed the seven-time world champion.

The Low Rake set-up used by Mercedes and Aston Martin was penalized the most by the 2021 regulatory changes.

He then continued, getting to the point: "We need updates of some kind, I don't know where, rear wing, engine or any other component, but we certainly have to make up for the ground we have lost".

An appeal to the 'wind' as Mercedes are already fully oriented towards 2022 and no major update is expected in the next Grand Prix, but only minor aerodynamic updates and in terms of exploitation of the power unit.

We await a few more GPs, but the road seems to be drawn. Tyres permitting.

Author: Piergiuseppe Donadoni

Co-author: Giuliano Duchessa

Illustrations: Rosario Giuliana

Original Story Link: https://www.formu1a.uno/analisi-ecco-come-red-bull-ha-ribaltato-i-mondiali/

Formu1a.uno - Ferrari, the race pace did not disappear.

PHOTO CREDIT: Scuderia Ferrari

There is more and more margin between the Verstappen-Hamilton duo and the rest of the world. As always, when there is a very strong fight for the championship, the two title protagonists receive maximum support and tend to distance themselves from their teammates as well.

A gap that could expand further in the championship, also thanks to the total freezing of the others in view of 2022. It will not be surprising, as long as the championship is alive we will have other races with many dubbed.

Yesterday only the top four completed all the laps, but the fact that we ran on the shortest track of the year in terms of time should not be underestimated.

Max won effortlessly, Hamilton's difficulties were already quite evident on Saturday with the rear tending to slide. Little protection on the rear, with a more qualifying-oriented set-up, where Mercedes had to recover against Red Bull.  But in the race he didn't give the expected results, Toto Wolff admitted it too. The very hot conditions certainly didn't help. Only the rain would have narrowed the gap a little, reducing the importance of the rear to the advantage of the front axle.

The optimization and understanding of the W12 is no longer enough, which now looks like a car at its 'maximum'. To date clearly inferior to that of the RB16B, which has grown in recent events thanks to the understanding of the many updates brought to the track, including two versions of front wings (Monaco and Baku), more tweaks to the diffuser, and the leap forward in terms of use of the power unit from the French GP.

This was not lost on the competitors, Mercedes, and Ferrari, who clearly noticed it. According to Red Bull, a new oil specification has increased the horsepower of Honda's #2 unit, which is the same spec from the start of the season given the freeze in terms of updates.

As for the oil, an update between the end of the 2020 and 2021 seasons was granted.

Verstappen has won an important race and goes 18 points up on the defending champion while RedBull has stretched away in the constructors: the fourth win in a row is a very big sign.

In the meantime, it should also be remembered that with the introduction of the technical directive on Flexi Wings, RedBull showed no signs of weakness on the straight that some were afraid to see. But that may have been well 'absorbed' by the performance boost of the Honda PU. However, it could have reliability as its weak point.

Mercedes is very confident in this. It is not for nothing that they put pressure on the 'flexi wings' in order to also affect Honda. Forcing them to push even further was their goal.

Ferrari has shown itself in good shape and does not eat the tyres as some believe or would have us believe.

What is certain is that Ferrari has lost many, too many points since the start of the season.  Also this weekend at the Styrian GP.

Despite the clearly duller qualifying than usual, the SF21 was certainly able to finish further up the standings (P5 and P7), certainly in full battle with Norris. The Lando himself confirmed this: "Without the problem Leclerc had, he would have been in front of us, or at least it would have been a great threat".

Leclerc's contact with Gasly, avoidable by the Monegasque, is just an episode between bad luck and negligence that is added to others.

Unlike Paul Ricard, Ferrari chose a very loaded (higher downforce) setup at Spielberg: a configuration similar in some ways to the one used with the SF90.  However, two years ago the Maranello car could amply afford a lot more drag on the straights.

The SF21 is much better than the SF1000 in almost everything, so even in terms of aerodynamic efficiency, but it still pays HP from rivals and its own 2019 power unit. Which is saying something. Nonetheless, the average race pace was very convincing since Friday when there was still little grip.

With increasing grip, things have also improved, with no signs of overheating, obviously maintaining the problem of straight-line speed under the same conditions. That is, in qualifying, when all the cars can open the DRS at the same time but in the race it is different.  With no trains with open DRSs for many, the SF21 passed pretty smoothly just about every car except Red Bull and Mercedes.

It would have been difficult to pass Lando's McLaren but Leclerc, with the race without significant traffic, would have finished 49 seconds behind Verstappen according to what we collected. Carlos Sainz, more penalized by the starting position, gained a lot: 5 positions over Gasly.

Unlike Portimão, Paul Ricard, or certain stages in Baku, the SF21 activated the tyres correctly in all conditions.

It is quite evident that the problems (not easy to solve because they depend on a front which is that of the SF1000) arise when the characteristics of the track favor the protection of the front tyres combined with low grip.

We have now entered the week of the Austrian GP, ​​which will be raced on softer compounds (the compound for qualifying will be the C5) and with a goal at Ferrari: try to make some steps forward on Saturday...  Which will then be the work that drivers and engineers will carry out in the next few hours to understand if it will be worthwhile on Friday to make a set-up comparison, bringing the spoon wing seen at Paul Ricard back to the track or whether to confirm the macro setup used in this positive weekend...

We have a very interesting week ahead of us for other reasons as well.

Pirelli will propose sets of new updated rear tyres that the teams will test in free practice. It is clear that such a change can only produce effects, starting with Silverstone, the GP in which the Federation would like to introduce them.

Pirelli received a request for willingness to introduce safer tyres directly from the FIA. For this, no vote will be needed but only FIA and Pirelli, obviously hearing the opinions of the teams, will decide whether to introduce them. The odds to date are still very high, given what has been collected.

What are the effects? It is difficult to predict. But to put it to Wolff, "this year we take everything that can be a 'bet' as we have to make up ground".

It should be considered that the traction phase heavily penalized by aerodynamic limitations seemed to be a fundamental key to finding performance. This despite the fact that even in this appointment the loss of performance compared to 2020 should be highlighted. With the same compounds, we always find ourselves with cars far from the pace of a year ago. Red Bull gained seven-tenths of an average pace over Mercedes, taking the lead by 0.2 seconds.

Ferrari does not mind - on paper - an even stiffer rear tyre, which may also have to force the opponents to implement the relative load to manage the setup and activate the rear tyres. In this sense, the Ferrari would seem to lack that middle configuration that others: McLaren and AlphaTauri in addition to Red Bull, have genetically available.

 If this were true, the margin on the obverse could become thinner in certain contexts.

 In a few days, there will be a sort of replay that promises to be very interesting for everyone.

Article Written By: Giuliano Duchessa and Piergiuseppe Donadoni from Formu1a.uno

Original Link In Italian: https://www.formu1a.uno/ferrari-il-passo-gara-non-era-scomparso/

Formu1a.uno - The Scuderia Ferrari SF21 is not a car for all track conditions.

PHOTO CREDIT: Scuderia Ferrari

Fingers seem to be pointing at the operating window of the tyres (especially the fronts) but it does not explain everything. 

The SF21 from testing showed its strengths and its weaknesses, we could not hope to totally overturn what we saw in 2020 but the signs were mostly encouraging.

The Italian car is not fantastic, but not as bad, as seen with pole position in Monaco and Baku, but neither is the car seen in France.

"I don't think the French GP reflects the true pace of the car or the performance itself, but it's something we have to learn and tackle, not in the immediate future but in the medium and long term," Binotto said a few hours after the GP.

Paul Ricard recalled that there is still a lot of work to be done, even on management errors and strategies that remain alive, although they have taken steps forward in a few areas compared to previous years.

An example is Leclerc's second stop, to put him back in the midst of Hamilton and Verstappen: it was no longer useful to leave him out also to check the return of performance that Charles was signaling even with a bit of amazement?

For what seemed like a real return to life of the front tyres that were finally clearing the massive graining. The Monegasque after a horrible pace also on 1m41s (lap times), after 20 laps, had dropped to 1m39s.

It could have been interesting to get further feedback on the car's behavior, why - like in Baku but to a much worse extent - the tyres started to work decently after too long and when the tread is fewer millimeters thick.

The explanations must be sought as in Portimão on the slipperiness of the track. With the difference that in Portugal it depended purely on the asphalt while in France on Sunday the conditions with rain in the previous hours made the track 'green' and slippery.

For the SF21, having sufficient grip on track is crucial. Which is the important difference between Paul Ricard and Barcelona, where Ferrari was the third force in the lot rather calmly.

Then it is clear that the SF21 needs low speed to pull and behave better than the opponents, at least the direct ones. Agility is one of its great characteristics which however goes out in the wide radius turns.

Furthermore, it cannot be a coincidence that both in the Algarve and in France, Sainz expressed himself better than Leclerc in qualifying.

Unlike Leclerc, we noted from Bahrain - and then better at Imola - how Carlos always prefers to enter the corners strongly and pay more at the exit.

A matter of style, confidence, and consistency. The prolonged corners favor this attitude because the car is in a 'continuous insertion'. The more the corner is shorter or even in the 'variants', the more Leclerc seems to make a difference with his 'V' shaped cornering style.

It is a positive difference because there is compensation between the two which can improve their respective skills.

The new front wing brought by Ferrari to France with new features on the footplate and an adjustment to ​​the last flap.
PHOTO CREDIT: Formu1a.Uno/Rosario Giuliana

Nevertheless, in qualifying, the performance always shows something positive, why?

First of all, why it is better to have speed than to be covered and stable. Certain aspects, such as the rims Binotto talked about at the end of the weekend, can not be improved, but it must be considered that with a more rubberized track we would have seen a more close battle with McLaren. What Ferrari expected. Certainly not the ease (4 tenths) with which we were ahead of the MCL35M in qualifying.

"We know that in terms of race pace we are not yet where we would like to be: we will prepare as best we can and we will continue to do so in the coming weeks to give our drivers an increasingly competitive package." Laurent Mekies had stated in the post qualification.

The rear wing endplate as we used to see it before the French GP.
PHOTO CREDIT: Formu1a.Uno/Rosario Giuliana

The grip reset has revealed that the SF21 is not a car for all conditions. 

On several occasions so far we have seen a car immediately ready to extract times, except in Portimão and Paul Ricard.

In Maranello, in preparation for the French weekend, we worked almost exclusively to improve what had not worked in Azerbaijan, namely the 'race pace'.

The evolution of the rear wing brought to France by Ferrari. The lower part of the endplate has been revised and shortened.
PHOTO CREDIT: Formu1a.Uno/Rosario Giuliana

We arrived on the track with too much race-oriented set-up. The two free practices on Friday made it clear that it was difficult to extract the right performance on a flying lap. It took several laps to find the performance, which then came. Not a problem on Fridays, certainly on Saturdays.

Hence the choice, for FP3s, to go with a more aggressive setting (more exhaust), which would make the SF21 slip more, turning on the tyres faster and consequently extracting greater performance.

It was actually like this, even if Leclerc immediately noticed those annoying understeer problems that did not promise anything good for Sunday's race (and that did not disappear even by continuing to 'click' on the front wing). In qualifying, in fact, a more oversteer-oriented set-up is usually chosen in order to have it more neutral in the race.

The understeer was then exasperated on Sunday by asphalt with very little grip and very minor lateral forces in the race that do not help to warm the tyres, especially the fronts which are obviously not stressed by traction efforts like the rears.

“The race pace was not a problem in Barcelona. However, it is clear that we have a very narrow working window on our front tyres, so we tend to fight a lot more than our competitors when there are conditions where graining can form or when front wear is greater,” Carlos Sainz said in the post GP interviews.

In hindsight, a heavier downforce set-up would have been more useful to push the tyres and not slip too much. Alpine and McLaren are proof of this.

But it must also be said that Ferrari did not expect so much rain before the GP. A thermal lowering yes, which would also have helped (the rear), a reset so important in the grip of the track but no.

Even making an aerodynamic match on Friday could have provided some more data, even though the track worsened significantly between Saturday and Sunday.

On the most positive occasions in the race, the SF21 was in better shape than McLaren but it did not materialize as correctly as it could. The difference in points must be sought there more than in Sunday's disaster.

Due to the characteristics of the car, other negative events should not be surprising.

In Austria, weather uncertainties permitting, it will again count more to have good traction from low and medium-low speeds such as the exit from Turns 3 and 4 above all. It is not a track in itself tiring on tyres, at least in the first round where Pirelli will bring the C2, C3, and C4 compounds. In the second, however, it will move to C3, C4, and C5, therefore a softer degree as a selection.

"Spielberg is a different circuit, a track where the differences in qualifying are very small. I think it's a better track for us than Paul Ricard," Mattia Binotto, Team Principal of the Italian team said in the post-weekend briefing.

"We will not be as competitive as in Monaco or Baku, but we think that a better performance than the one in France is feasible," he added.

According to what Formu1a.uno has learned, Binotto will be absent in Styria while he will return to the second round of the Red Bull Ring the following week.

Article Written By: Giuliano Duchessa and Piergiuseppe Donadoni from Formu1a.uno

Story Translation: Junaid Samodien

Illustrations By: Rosario Giuliana

Original Story Link: https://www.formu1a.uno/la-ferrari-sf21-non-e-una-vettura-per-ogni-condizione-di-pista/