2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[dans79]

Not sure how it relates to the discussion about Hamilton potentially being down on power, but I noticed Leclerc looked rapid through the hairpin and 'Spoon' all race long (generally, and compared to Hamilton, and to a lesser extent Russell).

He had that patented aggressive front-end driving style, really pitching the nose in on entry and shortening the corner. I would have halfway expected this might cost him recharge/deployment, but perhaps that wasn't the case (or he was able to find it back elsewhere).

Hamilton didn't seem to have enough front wing for the race. he asked for two more clicks on the front wing during his stop. In the second stint he was complaining that the car wouldn't turn, and had lots of understeer. From the onboards it was very noticeable at the hairpin.

[deadhead]

via AutoRacer

"Lewis didn’t have any engine issues during the race, but his hard tyres degraded more significantly than Charles’, which led to higher energy consumption due to wheel spin. This also accelerated tyre wear.

Coming out of corners, a driver with a good set-up gains a significant advantage in energy deployment over the lap. This can represent a 1–2% energy saving with every acceleration. It also depends on tyre condition and driving style.

In Hamilton’s case, for example, Carlo Santi asked him at one point to reduce acceleration by 15% coming out of corners, to slow down in order to have more overall energy and improve lap times. The data shows that Leclerc had more speed by slowing down in a way that Vasseur describes as ‘counter-intuitive’".

These cars pose some really “interesting” challenges for the drivers.

[Dee]

Not sure how it relates to the discussion about Hamilton potentially being down on power, but I noticed Leclerc looked rapid through the hairpin and 'Spoon' all race long (generally, and compared to Hamilton, and to a lesser extent Russell).

He had that patented aggressive front-end driving style, really pitching the nose in on entry and shortening the corner. I would have halfway expected this might cost him recharge/deployment, but perhaps that wasn't the case (or he was able to find it back elsewhere).

Hamilton didn't seem to have enough front wing for the race. he asked for two more clicks on the front wing during his stop. In the second stint he was complaining that the car wouldn't turn, and had lots of understeer. From the onboards it was very noticeable at the hairpin.

Are we in a situation again similar to last year where Charles can go more extreme with the setup since these are rear limited cars? or is it just a wrong setup issue?

[dans79]

Hamilton didn't seem to have enough front wing for the race. he asked for two more clicks on the front wing during his stop. In the second stint he was complaining that the car wouldn't turn, and had lots of understeer. From the onboards it was very noticeable at the hairpin.

Are we in a situation again similar to last year where Charles can go more extreme with the setup since these are rear limited cars? or is it just a wrong setup issue?

I don't think anyone outside of the trackside engineering staff would know that with complete authority. With that being said, The car looked to have a boat load of understeer, specialty in the hairpin.

[ScuderiaLeo]

This conversation reminds me of what Leclerc said after the race, that sometimes from the cockpit it's extremely difficult to tell whether something is a battery issue or not. At the start of the race he felt like he was low on power and he kept asking if he had an issue and Ferrari said no, right up until the pit stop. They had the same exchange multiple times, Lec was getting very frustrated. The unpredictability of the deployment software probably makes matters worse, where sometimes it may not be a "glitch" but rather a "feature" (but still a negative for the driver)

Hopefully the software is something they really focus on in April - both Ferrari and the FIA as it's causing a lot of frustration and confusion

[dans79]

This conversation reminds me of what Leclerc said after the race, that sometimes from the cockpit it's extremely difficult to tell whether something is a battery issue or not. At the start of the race he felt like he was low on power and he kept asking if he had an issue and Ferrari said no, right up until the pit stop. They had the same exchange multiple times, Lec was getting very frustrated. The unpredictability of the deployment software probably makes matters worse, where sometimes it may not be a "glitch" but rather a "feature" (but still a negative for the driver)

Hopefully the software is something they really focus on in April - both Ferrari and the FIA as it's causing a lot of frustration and confusion

It's a compounding issue as well. If you have a set-up issue, damage, an in proper fuel load, or just racing hard wheel to wheel, it all has an impact.

If have to change you line, how you accelerate, or how you brake, it will change how much you can harvest & deploy.

[woocasz]

via AutoRacer

"Lewis didn’t have any engine issues during the race, but his hard tyres degraded more significantly than Charles’, which led to higher energy consumption due to wheel spin. This also accelerated tyre wear.

Coming out of corners, a driver with a good set-up gains a significant advantage in energy deployment over the lap. This can represent a 1–2% energy saving with every acceleration. It also depends on tyre condition and driving style.

In Hamilton’s case, for example, Carlo Santi asked him at one point to reduce acceleration by 15% coming out of corners, to slow down in order to have more overall energy and improve lap times. The data shows that Leclerc had more speed by slowing down in a way that Vasseur describes as ‘counter-intuitive’".

These cars pose some really “interesting” challenges for the drivers.

I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but it turns out it’s true...

It just shows what an outstanding driver Leclerc is...

“He drives a car with a lot of oversteer, and somehow he manages to slide the rear end without causing tyre degradation. When I try to slide the rear of the car in a similar way, the tyre wear is massive”

[deadhead]

via AutoRacer

"Lewis didn’t have any engine issues during the race, but his hard tyres degraded more significantly than Charles’, which led to higher energy consumption due to wheel spin. This also accelerated tyre wear.

Coming out of corners, a driver with a good set-up gains a significant advantage in energy deployment over the lap. This can represent a 1–2% energy saving with every acceleration. It also depends on tyre condition and driving style.

In Hamilton’s case, for example, Carlo Santi asked him at one point to reduce acceleration by 15% coming out of corners, to slow down in order to have more overall energy and improve lap times. The data shows that Leclerc had more speed by slowing down in a way that Vasseur describes as ‘counter-intuitive’".

These cars pose some really “interesting” challenges for the drivers.

I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but it turns out it’s true...

It just shows what an outstanding driver Leclerc is...

“He drives a car with a lot of oversteer, and somehow he manages to slide the rear end without causing tyre degradation. When I try to slide the rear of the car in a similar way, the tyre wear is massive”

That was with the old cars I think Hamilton has a much better grasp on the current gen machine

[PlatinumZealot]

This conversation reminds me of what Leclerc said after the race, that sometimes from the cockpit it's extremely difficult to tell whether something is a battery issue or not. At the start of the race he felt like he was low on power and he kept asking if he had an issue and Ferrari said no, right up until the pit stop. They had the same exchange multiple times, Lec was getting very frustrated. The unpredictability of the deployment software probably makes matters worse, where sometimes it may not be a "glitch" but rather a "feature" (but still a negative for the driver)

Hopefully the software is something they really focus on in April - both Ferrari and the FIA as it's causing a lot of frustration and confusion

It is still the "discovery phase" of these regulations so definitely drivers, race engineers, designers, regulators are definitely learning as they go along.

All of the drivers will converge on this weird way of driving very soon.

[PlatinumZealot]

Not sure how it relates to the discussion about Hamilton potentially being down on power, but I noticed Leclerc looked rapid through the hairpin and 'Spoon' all race long (generally, and compared to Hamilton, and to a lesser extent Russell).

He had that patented aggressive front-end driving style, really pitching the nose in on entry and shortening the corner. I would have halfway expected this might cost him recharge/deployment, but perhaps that wasn't the case (or he was able to find it back elsewhere).

Hamilton didn't seem to have enough front wing for the race. he asked for two more clicks on the front wing during his stop. In the second stint he was complaining that the car wouldn't turn, and had lots of understeer. From the onboards it was very noticeable at the hairpin.

Are we in a situation again similar to last year where Charles can go more extreme with the setup since these are rear limited cars? or is it just a wrong setup issue?

Suzuka is front limited. Lots of understeer from ragging on the front tyres in the high speed. Drivers will ask for more wing. The cars don't seem to be rear limited at all in terms of going around a corner. They are very sesnitive to battery charging!

[DJ Downforce]

via AutoRacer

"Lewis didn’t have any engine issues during the race, but his hard tyres degraded more significantly than Charles’, which led to higher energy consumption due to wheel spin. This also accelerated tyre wear.

Coming out of corners, a driver with a good set-up gains a significant advantage in energy deployment over the lap. This can represent a 1–2% energy saving with every acceleration. It also depends on tyre condition and driving style.

In Hamilton’s case, for example, Carlo Santi asked him at one point to reduce acceleration by 15% coming out of corners, to slow down in order to have more overall energy and improve lap times. The data shows that Leclerc had more speed by slowing down in a way that Vasseur describes as ‘counter-intuitive’".

These cars pose some really “interesting” challenges for the drivers.

I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but it turns out it’s true...

It just shows what an outstanding driver Leclerc is...

“He drives a car with a lot of oversteer, and somehow he manages to slide the rear end without causing tyre degradation. When I try to slide the rear of the car in a similar way, the tyre wear is massive”

In China ham seemed to have loads of over steer and it made him faster. I believe these new cars have solved the problem quoted.

[SiLo]

These cars pose some really “interesting” challenges for the drivers.

I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but it turns out it’s true...

It just shows what an outstanding driver Leclerc is...

“He drives a car with a lot of oversteer, and somehow he manages to slide the rear end without causing tyre degradation. When I try to slide the rear of the car in a similar way, the tyre wear is massive”

In China ham seemed to have loads of over steer and it made him faster. I believe these new cars have solved the problem quoted.

That his driving style, late braking deep into corners. It makes the corners really short so oversteer sort of enables this a little bit. It won't really slow him down much in the way the understeer would. Seems to be the same for Leclerc as well. It's a good thing for Ferrari to have two drivers with similar styles.

[atanatizante]

I don’t know if this is the right thread to post, or if it was posted elsewhere, this post from X by former F1 engineer Toni Cuquerella regarding his proposal to modify the sporting regulations concerning the electric part …

[deadhead]

I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but it turns out it’s true...

It just shows what an outstanding driver Leclerc is...

“He drives a car with a lot of oversteer, and somehow he manages to slide the rear end without causing tyre degradation. When I try to slide the rear of the car in a similar way, the tyre wear is massive”

In China ham seemed to have loads of over steer and it made him faster. I believe these new cars have solved the problem quoted.

That his driving style, late braking deep into corners. It makes the corners really short so oversteer sort of enables this a little bit. It won't really slow him down much in the way the understeer would. Seems to be the same for Leclerc as well. It's a good thing for Ferrari to have two drivers with similar styles.

Leclerc and Verstappen are considered short corner drivers, is Hamilton as well?

[MattLightBlue]

I don’t know if this is the right thread to post, or if it was posted elsewhere, this post from X by former F1 engineer Toni Cuquerella regarding his proposal to modify the sporting regulations concerning the electric part …

https://postimages.org/

This is what FIA should do. I would keep the 6 MJ charge limit per circuit, that number should be calculated based on each track energy requirements.