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It is just that others improved from sprint qualy and Ferrari was not able
Most unsurprising outcome, everyone got hyped for 4 hours without realizing teams can make setup changes. I learned that mistake with Verstappen in Qatar last year, when he was on the pace with the Haas in the Sprint, to being on pole the 4 hours later and then went onto win the race on Sunday
i think it was more about knowing the car has potential to challenge for win than out right thinking we are the best
Ouch. I was expecting more. To see this hurts a little. Back down to Earth after such a joyful morning I guess. Leclerc made a step forward but the car didn't. Props to the drivers for trying, it looks like things just weren't there for them.
Vasseur said he doesn't think the tire pressures had an effect on the result, the team just mismanaged the session overall. The team was constantly behind in adapting to the slightly different conditions in each part of the session (Q1, Q2, Q3.) He put a big emphasis on how they know tire deg will be important for the race.
Leclerc said he thinks three tenths is where they should be relative to McLaren. He said the exact same thing in Australia for reference. He thinks they'll have good race pace but the dirty air might make them seem slower than in the sprint. It's possible the tire pressure hurt them a little but there could be other things that account for the "change", like other teams improving and the wind shifting. Maybe there was more in the car with a different out lap but not anywhere close to three tenths.
Hamilton said his lap wasn't the best, the car didn't feel as balanced compared to yesterday. It seems like the other teams improved between sessions more than they did. He anticipates having to manage the tires more in the race than the sprint because of the dirty air and setup changes they made.
Note the drivers haven't seen the data yet so their interviews are just based on their own impressions of the car.
Last edited by ScuderiaLeo on 22 Mar 2025, 11:05, edited 4 times in total.
A better outlap and maybe slightly more optimized run plan might have improved things but fundamentally we'd have been expecting the drivers to outmuscle the machinery. The car is clearly not there yet on one lap. Still, the sprint shows the potential is there. It's still only Lewis' second ever race weekend with the team so there's time to gain, and it's not like P5 and P6 is a total disaster compared to what could have happened.
Did they change the car from yesterday? Neither driver had anything in the car to fight for top 3.
Hamilton in Q3 was improving and at the same level as Piastri until the last corner, but lost 0.2 at the last corner, so we need to take into account that Ferrari is not yet able to set up and fully reveal its car
Hamilton was ahead of Piastri for the entire second sector, lost a bit in the third and was within less than a tenth until the last corner, but the last corner was very bad, just like Lewis yesterday, can anyone tell me why there are such problems with the last corner?
Seems to me like a prep lap problem, the rears were burned through by the time he reached S3. Lewis said they shifted the balance towards the front to protect them from graining, weakening the rear and increasing oversteer. This is likely what cost him the front row.
I wonder if ferrari sacrificed some quali speed to a setup that protects the fronts during the race...I couldn't see any mistakes from Charles or Lewis in their flying laps.
I wonder if ferrari sacrificed some quali speed to a setup that protects the fronts during the race...I couldn't see any mistakes from Charles or Lewis in their flying laps.
Hamilton lost about 0.25 in the last corner, I don't know if it was a mistake, but it was a big enough loss that cost him a couple of places on the grid
The car is absolute junk, this team is washed, they should have given Newey 200 million a year to come to Italy. Get Vasseur out and someone call Horner or Stella
I wonder if ferrari sacrificed some quali speed to a setup that protects the fronts during the race...I couldn't see any mistakes from Charles or Lewis in their flying laps.
Hamilton lost about 0.25 in the last corner, I don't know if it was a mistake, but it was a big enough loss that cost him a couple of places on the grid
The sf25 was 3 tenths slower in s3 than yesterday.. it was the setup change
