2025 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[f1316]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/char ... /10738062/

According to this, the LICO is still about plank wear, not brakes. I always thought the brake thing was an excuse tbh, I think the forecast was fairly stable and for some reason they don’t want to let on that they’re basically having to compromise races due to the plank (or really talk about the ride height issue at all). Can’t wait for this new suspension.

[dialtone]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/char ... /10738062/

According to this, the LICO is still about plank wear, not brakes. I always thought the brake thing was an excuse tbh, I think the forecast was fairly stable and for some reason they don’t want to let on that they’re basically having to compromise races due to the plank (or really talk about the ride height issue at all). Can’t wait for this new suspension.

To be honest that doesn’t make sense. You go faster and have more car roll when you have less fuel and times go down. Ferrari was on the same times as MCL in the 2nd stint when everyone was pushing. They also asked LEC to LiCO during the formation lap.

At the moment there’s no evidence this is for plank wear, it’s just what the press wants to believe.

[Wynters]

A few observations from the race based mostly on Sector times (largely excluding the 3rd stint as inconsistent traffic for both cars messes with the data a bit):-
Wear rates: For very 3 laps of wear the Papayas' accrue, Ferrari accrues 4. That seems pretty consistent across both Medium and Hard compounds.
- Norris was .5 faster on the Medium across the 1st stint and only 1/10th faster on the Hards. I'm measuring like-for-like during the Medium stint but, as Norris pits early, I'm cutting the comparison on that lap. For the Hard stint, I'm measuring Norris' first lap against Leclerc's first lap (and not offsetting for 5 laps less fuel in the Ferrari) so it's less representative. Norris also has a shocker on laps 28 and 40. But if I exclude his best two laps and Leclerc best two laps, the difference is still about 1/10th.

- Leclerc is pretty metronomic each lap whereas Hamilton is more up and down.
- Hamilton makes up about 3/10s in each of the pitstops (counting lap in and lap out). I don't know if that's down to the pitcrew times or the drivers as I didn't see the stationary timings.
- The time Leclerc gaps Hamilton in each of the 3 stints was 1.8 secs / 5.8 secs / 0.45 secs (I've excluded the last lap as people were obviously cruising).
- Hamilton experienced time drop off due to Deg a lap or so earlier than Leclerc in each stint.
- It would seem from both timing and the Radio that a big chunk of the time loss on Hard was due to Colapinto coming out in front of Hamilton on fresh hards, whilst Hamilton was 15 laps into his own Stint. Leclerc was lapping 1/10th faster each lap until then. Colapinto drops in and it immediately climbs to 4/10ths. However, it also corresponds to tyres going off on both cars (Hamilton complains about rear overheating two laps before, giving up almost 6/10ths to Leclerc that lap before bringing it back under control) and Leclerc picks up Tsunoda not long afterwards so I'm not confident that Colapinto entirely explains the gap.
- Hamilton doesn't ask if he can extend until lap 46 and he pits on lap 50. This suggests that he wasn't holding time in his pocket up until then. But it does suggest that he probably had more tyre life that he didn't use in those last four laps before he was pulled in. If we take Leclerc last 4 laps as a 'best case', Hamilton might have found as much as 2 seconds if he had stuck to the optimum pitwall strategy instead of hedging his bets.
- Curiously, both cars bang in an absolute cracker of a lap on lap 63. Hamilton had eased off four laps earlier (moving into the 69s), then put in a 68.242. Leclerc stayed in the high 68s all the way up until then, but also hammered in a 68.366. Then both cars immediately ease off for the last 7 laps.

[DJ Downforce]

A few observations from the race based mostly on Sector times (largely excluding the 3rd stint as inconsistent traffic for both cars messes with the data a bit):-
Wear rates: For very 3 laps of wear the Papayas' accrue, Ferrari accrues 4. That seems pretty consistent across both Medium and Hard compounds.
- Norris was .5 faster on the Medium across the 1st stint and only 1/10th faster on the Hards. I'm measuring like-for-like during the Medium stint but, as Norris pits early, I'm cutting the comparison on that lap. For the Hard stint, I'm measuring Norris' first lap against Leclerc's first lap (and not offsetting for 5 laps less fuel in the Ferrari) so it's less representative. Norris also has a shocker on laps 28 and 40. But if I exclude his best two laps and Leclerc best two laps, the difference is still about 1/10th.

- Leclerc is pretty metronomic each lap whereas Hamilton is more up and down.
- Hamilton makes up about 3/10s in each of the pitstops (counting lap in and lap out). I don't know if that's down to the pitcrew times or the drivers as I didn't see the stationary timings.
- The time Leclerc gaps Hamilton in each of the 3 stints was 1.8 secs / 5.8 secs / 0.45 secs (I've excluded the last lap as people were obviously cruising).
- Hamilton experienced time drop off due to Deg a lap or so earlier than Leclerc in each stint.
- It would seem from both timing and the Radio that a big chunk of the time loss on Hard was due to Colapinto coming out in front of Hamilton on fresh hards, whilst Hamilton was 15 laps into his own Stint. Leclerc was lapping 1/10th faster each lap until then. Colapinto drops in and it immediately climbs to 4/10ths. However, it also corresponds to tyres going off on both cars (Hamilton complains about rear overheating two laps before, giving up almost 6/10ths to Leclerc that lap before bringing it back under control) and Leclerc picks up Tsunoda not long afterwards so I'm not confident that Colapinto entirely explains the gap.
- Hamilton doesn't ask if he can extend until lap 46 and he pits on lap 50. This suggests that he wasn't holding time in his pocket up until then. But it does suggest that he probably had more tyre life that he didn't use in those last four laps before he was pulled in. If we take Leclerc last 4 laps as a 'best case', Hamilton might have found as much as 2 seconds if he had stuck to the optimum pitwall strategy instead of hedging his bets.
- Curiously, both cars bang in an absolute cracker of a lap on lap 63. Hamilton had eased off four laps earlier (moving into the 69s), then put in a 68.242. Leclerc stayed in the high 68s all the way up until then, but also hammered in a 68.366. Then both cars immediately ease off for the last 7 laps.

I think one of the reasons Ham's race pace is off is because he can't seem to be consistent across the race distance. Too many laps where he has a bad sector and loses a lot of time. He seems more vulnerable to overheating his tyres

[deadhead]

https://www.formulapassion.it/f1/f1-ana ... so-leclerc

“The Monegasque also confirms how his driving style and his favorite car trim amplify the problem even more. It is well known, in fact, that Leclerc prefers a balance decidedly shifted towards the front, and that it has a particular driving technique, in which it uses the brake to further load the front aill during the cornering entry phase. This obviously goes to further stress the front braking system and that's why the requests of Lift and Coast are more insistent for the Monegasque, as he himself confirmed in the statements above. This also means that Leclerc loses much of his driving style in these situations, forcing him to reinvent himself and that therefore the thing has an important relevance compared to his times on the lane. The impression, however, is that in Maranello there is an attempt to reuse the heat of the brakes in an aggressive way, more than what happens in other teams, and that this has the price, sometimes remarkable, of the Lift and Coast to pay.”

At this point I think the only time LEC has been completely at ease with the car was in the beginning of 2022

[Macklaren]

https://www.formulapassion.it/f1/f1-ana ... so-leclerc

“The Monegasque also confirms how his driving style and his favorite car trim amplify the problem even more. It is well known, in fact, that Leclerc prefers a balance decidedly shifted towards the front, and that it has a particular driving technique, in which it uses the brake to further load the front aill during the cornering entry phase. This obviously goes to further stress the front braking system and that's why the requests of Lift and Coast are more insistent for the Monegasque, as he himself confirmed in the statements above. This also means that Leclerc loses much of his driving style in these situations, forcing him to reinvent himself and that therefore the thing has an important relevance compared to his times on the lane. The impression, however, is that in Maranello there is an attempt to reuse the heat of the brakes in an aggressive way, more than what happens in other teams, and that this has the price, sometimes remarkable, of the Lift and Coast to pay.”

At this point I think the only time LEC has been completely at ease with the car was in the beginning of 2022

The more I read stuff like this, the more respect I have for Carlos for managing this and being so close to Charles

[ScuderiaLeo]

According to a local obituary, Vasseur's mother sadly passed away last Tuesday, that's why he missed the Austria GP. RIP.

While it's unfortunate he missed an excellent 3-4 finish, family is more important than a single race weekend. I heard he'll be back for Silverstone but the funeral is Thursday afternoon, I'm guessing he'll have a very busy Thursday night flying over and getting settled.

[Wynters]

I think one of the reasons Ham's race pace is off is because he can't seem to be consistent across the race distance. Too many laps where he has a bad sector and loses a lot of time. He seems more vulnerable to overheating his tyres

I agree. It's also unusual for Hamilton. It'll be interesting to see whether the amplitude reduces over time (suggesting that he's becoming more comfortable with the car) or whether it's a side effect of aging (and permanent).

[r85]

I think one of the reasons Ham's race pace is off is because he can't seem to be consistent across the race distance. Too many laps where he has a bad sector and loses a lot of time. He seems more vulnerable to overheating his tyres

I agree. It's also unusual for Hamilton. It'll be interesting to see whether the amplitude reduces over time (suggesting that he's becoming more comfortable with the car) or whether it's a side effect of aging (and permanent).

The main issues I have seen are confidence in high speed corners, braking and throttle input. His race starts have been normal at best and he isn't great out of the corners. Braking ability with the new brakes has improved since the start of the season so that's a positive. High speed cornering is not specific to Ferrari though. He needs W11 levels of rear stability to push the car through the corners because he likes to mash the throttle as much as he can. I'm confident that he'll be equal with Leclerc by the end of the season.

[deadhead]

https://www.formulapassion.it/f1/f1-ana ... so-leclerc

“The Monegasque also confirms how his driving style and his favorite car trim amplify the problem even more. It is well known, in fact, that Leclerc prefers a balance decidedly shifted towards the front, and that it has a particular driving technique, in which it uses the brake to further load the front aill during the cornering entry phase. This obviously goes to further stress the front braking system and that's why the requests of Lift and Coast are more insistent for the Monegasque, as he himself confirmed in the statements above. This also means that Leclerc loses much of his driving style in these situations, forcing him to reinvent himself and that therefore the thing has an important relevance compared to his times on the lane. The impression, however, is that in Maranello there is an attempt to reuse the heat of the brakes in an aggressive way, more than what happens in other teams, and that this has the price, sometimes remarkable, of the Lift and Coast to pay.”

At this point I think the only time LEC has been completely at ease with the car was in the beginning of 2022

The more I read stuff like this, the more respect I have for Carlos for managing this and being so close to Charles

I’ve failed to identify anything impressive or special about Sainz as a Formula 1 driver

[bluechris]

https://www.formulapassion.it/f1/f1-ana ... so-leclerc

“The Monegasque also confirms how his driving style and his favorite car trim amplify the problem even more. It is well known, in fact, that Leclerc prefers a balance decidedly shifted towards the front, and that it has a particular driving technique, in which it uses the brake to further load the front aill during the cornering entry phase. This obviously goes to further stress the front braking system and that's why the requests of Lift and Coast are more insistent for the Monegasque, as he himself confirmed in the statements above. This also means that Leclerc loses much of his driving style in these situations, forcing him to reinvent himself and that therefore the thing has an important relevance compared to his times on the lane. The impression, however, is that in Maranello there is an attempt to reuse the heat of the brakes in an aggressive way, more than what happens in other teams, and that this has the price, sometimes remarkable, of the Lift and Coast to pay.”

At this point I think the only time LEC has been completely at ease with the car was in the beginning of 2022

The more I read stuff like this, the more respect I have for Carlos for managing this and being so close to Charles

I’ve failed to identify anything impressive or special about Sainz as a Formula 1 driver

Well at least he had very good strategy sense.

[Dee]

https://www.formulapassion.it/f1/f1-ana ... so-leclerc

“The Monegasque also confirms how his driving style and his favorite car trim amplify the problem even more. It is well known, in fact, that Leclerc prefers a balance decidedly shifted towards the front, and that it has a particular driving technique, in which it uses the brake to further load the front aill during the cornering entry phase. This obviously goes to further stress the front braking system and that's why the requests of Lift and Coast are more insistent for the Monegasque, as he himself confirmed in the statements above. This also means that Leclerc loses much of his driving style in these situations, forcing him to reinvent himself and that therefore the thing has an important relevance compared to his times on the lane. The impression, however, is that in Maranello there is an attempt to reuse the heat of the brakes in an aggressive way, more than what happens in other teams, and that this has the price, sometimes remarkable, of the Lift and Coast to pay.”

At this point I think the only time LEC has been completely at ease with the car was in the beginning of 2022

The more I read stuff like this, the more respect I have for Carlos for managing this and being so close to Charles

I’ve failed to identify anything impressive or special about Sainz as a Formula 1 driver

I remember watching a behind the scenes vid of Toro Rosso when Carlos and Max were teammates. Carlos did a test where he matched Vettel's time. He was one of the closest teammates Max ever had (even though he was 17 at the time) and he kept Charles very honest, often beating him in race winning moments and in the rain. Performed better vs him than Lewis is doing now. Also beat Norris while they were teammates. So I actually think that Sainz is impressive and is often overlooked.

[ScuderiaLeo]

Sainz is a good driver, he just isn't "the best" driver.

That's perfectly fine, any top team should love a good driver that brings in consistent points as long as they have another driver they can rely on for a title if it comes down to that. Looking at how Tsunoda is performing at Red Bull now, they made a big mistake in not taking Sainz when he was free. While he'd probably be struggling some still like he is with Williams, normal team adaption problems, I'm positive he'd be doing better than Tsunoda and Lawson. I digress however.

His bigger issue rather than pace or general skill is that he crashed a lot in 2024. But the WCC was a long shot anyways so I don't really blame him for Ferrari losing, it's to his and Leclerc's credit rather that they even got so close at all.

BTW I expect a livestream from AR tomorrow night, really hoping they can tell us early whether the suspension is coming so we can wildly speculate for 2 or 3 days before the race

[deadhead]

I think they’ve would’ve said something by now if it was coming for Silverstone

[Sevach]

I’ve failed to identify anything impressive or special about Sainz as a Formula 1 driver

Seems like Carlos lot in life.
Keeps Verstappen honest, not impressive.
Keeps Charles honest, noy impressive.
Beats Norris, meh... he was a rookie(which is true).

He seems like a weird guy that seems to underperform in midfield cars, his Williams tenior has indeed been "whatever" and his Renault days too.

He's like a reverse Fisichella (looks great in the midfield, disappointing in a competitive car).