Rotating around a Ferrari facing fresh fallout
There were so many alliance opportunities related to Ferrari weekend at China’s Grand Prix, but some of them would have landed me in the FIA along with the FIA given the oath guidelines that exist now.
Still, what’s the difference between 24 hours?
Sprint’s pole position and subsequent victory looked like a disappointment for Australia in the Ferrari’s rearview mirror after the team struggled with setup and strategic calls over the challenging opening weekend.
Hamilton’s presence, which must be said, was significantly suppressed after such a troubling start, only helped increase the scrutiny of teams already facing more intense analysis than most. It has been mentioned many times that one of Fred Vasser’s greatest strengths is his ability to block out the noise surrounding Ferrari, stop the team from overreacting to good or bad situations, and keep Scuderia on a much more even keel. Well, the Ferrari team principals will need to rely on all of that from Sunday in Shanghai on Sunday.
Saturday afternoon qualifying was a bit disappointing after the pace shown in the previous two competitive sessions, but if Ferrari had held strong race performances from the sprint, he would at least be in a position to compete for the podium at the Grand Prix. Hamilton came in fourth in turn 1 and it all looked very good as Charles Leclair is chasing him.
As Hamilton avoided a puncture, the contact between the two drivers who broke the end plate of the Leclerc’s front wing seemed not to be a problem, and Leclerc showed a structurally remaining front wing and a strong pace.
The team was allowed to replace obviously damaged parts for post-race weight checks, and although Ferrari was able to fit a replacement front wing that was 0.2kg heavier than the ones the FIA raced, it still wasn’t enough to avoid later controversy.
After Hamilton’s victory on Saturday, the mood surrounding Ferrari was far more lively. It quickly bounced off Melbourne and seemed to find direction in a new car. Hamilton helps produce powerful performances comparable to Leclerc.
However, it seemed like there was still much work going on during the race as multiple radio messages were unfolding suggesting that the two drivers were not completely satisfied with the information they were receiving. If anything, it was Leclair who seemed more frustrated. He has been given repeated feedback and stated that he has retained hints of irony displayed in Australia.
After that strong start, the race quickly escaped from Ferrari. He couldn’t put pressure on George Russell. Hamilton was struggling compared to the Sprint and told him he wanted his team to try something different as Leclair cast a close shadow and eventually let his teammate pass in one turn.
Leclerc’s first pace burst quickly faded after Hamilton was once cleaned up, and after Red Bull Driver’s anonymous first stint, neither of them were able to resist Verstappen’s recovery. Hamilton’s two stops were worthy of gambling as they were ultimately sacrificed nothing to him, and the Ferrari was ultimately the fourth fastest car of the day.
But even the disappointment that McLaren, Russell, or Verstappen had no answers was not intended to prove misery enough for Scuderia.
In reality, one of these methods was discovered before the race. There was a setup to blame Hamilton’s rear skid block for being under 9mm at least. Sprint weekends put more pressure on the team to get the setup within a small window, but in the current format you can learn lessons from the situation in the race on Saturday.
In 2023, when Hamilton (later at Mercedes) and Leclerc were excluded from the US Grand Prix, not again due to wear on the planks. And once the team went through the situation, it really should have been a procedure to avoid repetition.
Leclerc has multiple potential reasons why his car was underweight, but like last year’s Spa-Francorchamps’ Russell, an unexpected one-stop strategy could play a role. Several cars have retracted such strategies, and not only has Leclerc lost weight, but Pierre Gasly is also disqualified.
Guthrie ran the longer stint than anyone else until the end of the race with 46 laps on hard tires, but Leclair stopped 41 laps five laps later. However, despite Verstappen, Russell and Oscar Piastri running more laps than Leclerc, none of the rest of the top five had any weight issues.
Russell’s situation provided all teams with a clear warning of the potential side effects of such a strategy. Those who have been playing similarly to Ferrari in recent years should have really paid attention to the incident and learned from it, but instead double disqualify Shanghai and stay behind Williams in the Constructors Championship.
“Charles had a one-stop strategy today, which meant that his tires were very worn and caused the car to be underweight,” the team’s statement admitted. “We misunderstood consumption with a small margin when it comes to Lewis skidwear. We weren’t going to get any benefits.
“We learn from what happened today and make sure we don’t make the same mistake again. Obviously, it didn’t want to end China’s Grand Prix weekend for ourselves and for fans whose support for us remains unwavering.”
It may be the case in the early days, but Ferrari currently has multiple different issues in the opening two rounds, which has proven to be extremely expensive. Showing McLaren a head start of 61 points in the constructors’ championship and winning two races twice is not the ideal way to kick off the season if you want to win the title.
Hamilton was quick and right to call critics for being too fast to judge Ferrari after just one race weekend, and pointing out that it shouldn’t be engrossed in one good outcome, with his victory in the sprint against the backdrop. However, the opening two rounds were more reminiscent of Ferrari before Vasuzer arrived. It seems the team is getting a little bit in their own way.
“I don’t feel any pressure,” Hamilton said Saturday. “I know Tifosi, I know the fans, I know that the team wants to win, and I know that it means everything to them. But Rome was not built one step at a time. We are not going to go ahead of ourselves.
“We have to keep pushing. We have to stay hard and focused. Just stay calm. Most importantly, we want to stay calm as these moments excite us all. It’s a long, long journey. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
But McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, and others don’t give teams time to get things right. And Ferrari was meant to be set to win this year. During preseason Tests, even Leclair admitted that he felt that Hamilton had reached the right point of his team’s journey.
The positive momentum from Hamilton’s arrival already appears to have faded, and the sprint victory was certainly covered in Sunday evening in China. Vasseur would have been prepared for such scrutiny this season, but perhaps he would not foresee Ferrari working hard in life for itself.
I wrote on Friday that Hamilton flipped the script as Ferrari enjoyed a more positive outlook, but the team’s error reversed it on Sunday. Over the next few weeks, Vasseur will need to make sure everyone is on the same page.