What might be mentioned about Ferrari? We might speak about a thousand issues, however essentially the most becoming phrases to outline this SF-25 in its Miami model are unpredictable and inconsistent. A automotive that’s extraordinarily troublesome to handle, the place Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc attempt to work miracles to realize disappointing outcomes. That is basically the important thing storyline of the Florida weekend, a monitor that uncovered the Ferrari automotive’s limits far more than the Maranello engineers had anticipated.
Telemetry information from the sectors reveal Ferrari’s issues. The Miami qualifying session exhibits an SF-25 automotive in clear growing problem in comparison with what was seen within the Friday Dash Shootout. Charles Leclerc finishes with a major hole: +0.550 seconds from the highest, confirming a worrying pattern for the SF-25. A part of this worsening might be defined by a identified issue: the mandatory greater trip heights between the Dash and the race.
And for a undertaking so delicate to trip peak like Ferrari’s, this transition represents a concrete impediment to efficiency. The info speaks for itself: the majority of the difficulties are concentrated within the first sector, the place Charles Leclerc loses as a lot as 0.422 seconds from the reference, and within the second sector, the place Ferrari is simply the ninth quickest of all of the vehicles. An in depth evaluation of the lap reveals a Monegasque pressured to make steady micro-corrections.
Specifically, he does this to stabilize a rear axle that proved unstable and twitchy all through the session. The SF-25’s steadiness was clearly too delicate, and oversteering “killed” the efficiency out of the corners. In the meantime, within the gradual part, from nook 11 to 16, the Pink automotive appeared extra like a rally automotive than a Formulation 1 single-seater: numerous meters pushed sideways, dropping traction and confidence flip after flip.
With telemetry in hand, a primary crucial second is instantly noticeable on the braking of flip 1: Charles Leclerc loses greater than two tenths in comparison with Max Verstappen. The Dutchman brakes later, for much less time, carries +3 kilometers per hour on the heart of the nook, and manages to get again on the fuel sooner, even approaching flip 2 nearly at full throttle. In the meantime, Charles Leclerc nonetheless wants a couple of extra meters earlier than he can belief the automotive and flooring the accelerator.
The pattern repeats itself at flip 4, the place the Monegasque is pressured to make a major braking adjustment to insert the automotive correctly, dropping one other 0.035 seconds. The unstable setup doesn’t enable him to be exact, and that is pricey on a monitor the place each nook is intently linked to the following. Flip 6-7, the lengthy sweeping nook on the restrict, is one other weak level the place he loses a tenth.
The SF-25 visibly slides on the rear. On the straights, it manages to restrict the injury, indicating that drag just isn’t the primary challenge, however within the gradual part from flip 11 to 16, the automotive’s conduct was at instances really incomprehensible. Charles Leclerc, identical to Lewis Hamilton, is continually pressured into counter-steering to regulate a rear finish that tends to interrupt unfastened.
This conduct strains the rear tires, inflicting them to overheat rapidly: traction and stability are absent. Solely between turns 11 and 13, Charles Leclerc loses 0.185 seconds, an enormous margin in such a brief house. The second that greatest sums up the scenario comes by way of radio, on the finish of the lap, when Charles Leclerc exclaims: “My God, I do not know what’s occurring. And that was even lap. I don’t perceive.”
These are phrases that carry weight, as a result of they have been spoken by a driver who hardly ever lets such feedback slip. In abstract, what was seen on Saturday was a Ferrari that was utterly unpredictable, unstable, and particularly fragile in traction and within the phases the place good mechanical grip is essential. Till the Maranello crew finds an answer on this space, it will likely be troublesome to count on any actual step ahead in comparison with the opposite high groups.
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