Last Updated on October 25 2024, 12:38 pm

Despite early season expectations, the 2024 Formula One season is bubbling towards a thrilling climax. Last time out in Austin, Texas Ferrari were the dominant force in the Grand Prix, although their qualifying pace remains questionable.

McLaren were hoping for another outing similar to Singapore where Lando Norris romped away with over a twenty second winning margin. Yet it was not to be as Red Bull’s upgraded RB20 looked more like its old self and with Max Verstappen defending as though his life depended on it, both cars looked to have similar pace at the Circuit of the Americas.

Mercedes still have some head scratching to do after looking the quickest car by far on Friday in Austin, then come the Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying and there silver arrows were once again at the back of the front four F1 teams.

 

 

 

Ferrari qualifying “Achilles Heel”

As F1 heads to the Autodromo Romanos Rodriguez this weekend, Ferrari will be eyeing the opportunity to make up the eight point deficit on Red Bull and move into second in the constructors’ title race. But Mexico City is a Red Bull specialist circuit with Max Verstappen winning five of the last six Grand Prix held at the Autodromo.

Since the return of the historic track to the F1 calendar in 2015, amongst the current drivers not including Verstappen, only Lewis Hamilton has claimed victory in Mexico City but Mercedes are no where near favourites this time around following their puzzling weekend in Texas.

The FIA has elected to shorted the DRS zone this year which places an even greater premium on the qualifying hour, something Carlos Sainz doesn’t believe will help Ferrari’s cause as the Spaniard revealed, “qualifying remains a bit of our Achilles’ Heel this year”.

“The moment you qualify P3 or P4 in a track like Mexico, maybe here with the long straight you can pass into Turn 1 at the start,” said Sainz. “But at a lot of others you will not be able to do the kind of race that we did in Austin.”

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Red Bull mighty in high speed

In Austin, Max Verstappen demonstrated the nimble characteristics of the RB20 which proved to be untouchable through the high speed turns in sector 1. Sainz knows that high speed cornering is not one of the SF-24’s strengths having followed Verstappen for lap after lap last weekend in COTA.

“I think when you look into the detail of the Austin track, as long as we survive the first sector – which in qualifying we were two-tenths off the Red Bull and McLaren in only three or four corners, then all of the other corners were perfect for Ferrari and we managed to make the time back in all the low-speed stuff,” the Spaniard said.

The Autodromo Romanos Rodriguez is much shorter than COTA which could play into Ferrari’s hands but the most significant difference between Texas and Mexico is the altitude. At two kilometres above sea level this is the highest altitude test of the Formula One cars on the entire calendar with engine power reduced, cooling critical and reduced downforce from the thinner air.

Modern F1 power units compresses air electronically which means even at altitude the amount of Oxygen burnt is the same as when compared to sea level. What is different relates to the turbo charger which works so much harder as the air pressure is reduced and since the introduction of the V6 hybrids, turbos have been an issue for Ferrari.

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Ferrari concerns for Qatar

“I hope that we can be in the mix like we were in Austin. I think if we are in the mix, given our race pace this year and what can happen here at the start, even if you are not on pole you might have a chance at winning,” adds Sainz.

“Before Austin I doubted whether we could be in the mix at tracks like Austin, but the fact that we dominated there and were so strong gives me hope.”

There is one circuit where Ferrari may hurt significantly more at the remaining five, and its in Qatar. “We’re still lacking in high-speed corners, especially in qualifying mode, which makes me feel like Qatar will be a difficult race for us,” reveals Carlos.

“But all the other circuits just hopefully we will be in the [fight]. Then whether you win or not depends on how your race pace is that weekend, how you start, how you qualify, but at least be in the mix which means you give yourself a chance of winning at maybe every track except for Qatar that I think is not a Ferrari track at all.”

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Leclerc admits his ‘weakness’

Team mate Charles Leclerc is on course for his best points tally of his F1 career. The Monegasque currently sits on 275 just 33 points behind his best season in 2022, yet Leclerc reflected on his journey with Ferrari at the FIA official press conference on Thursday.

“I think my main weakness when I got to Ferrari was being very impatient and sometimes it still bites me,” admits Leclerc. “I feel like I found the right balance because I cannot either be happy to be a tenth off and I will always do absolutely everything in order to get that tenth – even if that means that sometimes I go over the limit and crash. But this is probably where I’ve learned the most.”

Charles has indeed thrown race wins away when pushing for that final tenth of a second. At the 2022 French Grand Prix, Leclerc was leading and inexplicably crashed out of the race – just another example of a career littered with high profile errors.

The Ferrari driver also crashed out of the Sau Paulo Grand Prix last year while he was leading the field around for the formation lap.

“It’s to try and find that balance. Yes, sometimes it will happen that I’ll go over the limits. But I know that over the course of the season, it pays more often to have that approach than to just be happy being off for a weekend,” Leclerc concludes.

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Hamilton refusing to run Mercedes upgrades

Whilst the Formula One column inches were filled with cries over the race stewards decisions following this year’s USGP, something more sinister was at play in the Mercedes garage. Friday practice saw Russell and Hamilton sixth and seventh but come Sprint qualifying, George was flying.

His SQ3 final lap was a mere 12 one thousands of a second slower than Verstappen who claimed pole but meanwhile Lewis Hamilton was not having such a good time of it down in P7, over half a second off the time set by Russell.

Come the race on Saturday, Russell clearly did not have the pace of those around him and he slipped down through the order to finish fifth, ahead of his team mate Hamilton… READ MORE