Charles Leclerc believes the performance of Ferrari’s upgraded car in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix bodes well for the coming races.
However he said the team needs to find an answer for its rivals’ “weird” technique for boosting their speed on the straights.Ferrari arrived at Imola with a package of new parts for their car which they tested ahead of this weekend’s race. Although they appeared to be closer to the front of the field than previous rounds in China and Miami, Leclerc was still beaten by Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Over the long second stint on hard tyres, Leclerc caught up to Norris ahead before a mistake at the Variante Alta chicane caused him to drop out of touch with the McLaren driver. Despite not being able to fight for the race win, Leclerc said he was pleased to have secured a top three finish.
“At least it’s a podium,” Leclerc said. “Of course. I’m only very happy when I win and today, we didn’t quite make it.
“We were very fast at the beginning of the stint with the hards. I started to push to try and put some pressure on Lando, but later on they were incredibly quick.”
Although Leclerc and Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr qualified in fourth and fifth, respectively, before Oscar Piastri’s penalty promoted both up one position each on the grid, Leclerc was encouraged by his team’s performance on Sunday.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“All-in-all, I think the race pace today was quite strong,” he said, revealing the team identified a possible area of improvement on Saturday.
“We lacked a bit yesterday in qualifying. After looking, we missed on the front straight, especially – which we’ll look into – but on the rest of the lap, we were quick. So it’s looking good for the rest of the season.”
Leclerc said Ferrari’s analysis of qualifying indicated their rivals have found a way to improve their performance on the straights.
“I think our race pace is very, very strong,” he told Sky. “I’m more optimistic than yesterday looking back at the qualifying because this is where I think we are lacking on a weekend like this.
“What makes me optimistic is that if I look back at the data, I thought we were losing in turn two, three, four, which would have been tyre related again. But it wasn’t the case. We lost everything in the straights, and they are doing something weird with the energy, engine-wise, McLaren and Red Bull.”
However he is confident Ferrari can find an answer to their rivals’ advantage. “We’ve got to look into it but [it’s] nothing that is not possible to change.
“So, we’ll look into that and once we fix that, I think we’ve got a real shot of going back on the top step for the podium.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
- Ferrari expect qualifying gain after spotting rivals’ power strategy tactics
- How Alonso and Stroll copied Verstappen’s tactic plus more unheard Imola radio
- Verstappen beats Hamilton’s winning rate with Emilia-Romagna GP victory
- How Russell resisted losing position to Hamilton “for no reason” with extra stop
- “Lando’s found some pace”: Unheard radio from Verstappen-Norris Imola duel
Aquila_GD
19th May 2024, 17:00
Couldnt McLaren and Red Bull just share with us what “weird” thing they were doing with the engine so that Ferrari can do it too. ;)
falken (@falken)
19th May 2024, 20:27
When Ferrari do it, it’s fine to keep it a secret. Even if it was illegal.
Shoes on the other foot now, eh?
Tristan
19th May 2024, 17:05
I reckon FIA really needs to look into what’s going on with modes and settings or “toys” whatever they may be.
It’s dumb to have this layer of technology being used by teams which is impacting the races so heavily that is practically invisible other than some radio messages or cryptic hints like this.
I think some standardisation into possible engine/electronic modes and a visualisation of who’s doing what would be immensely valuable from an entertainment, sporting and even educational perspective.
BasCB (@bascb)
19th May 2024, 17:34
I think it’s probably more something they are doing with aero (on the floor?) to run well on the straight while keeping the downforce on for the cornering Tristan.
Tristan
19th May 2024, 17:44
We have absolutely zero idea, and that’s kind of my point.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th May 2024, 17:52
You’d still not know what they are doing. It’s like asking to show the secrets of the floor of the car, or the inner workings of the cooling system. Everything impactes races heavily…
This is a consequence of motorsport. Nothing they should be doing about it.
Tristan
19th May 2024, 19:04
Nah I disagree there.
Electric power delivery modes could and should be totally standardised or at least have modes that allow power delivery within specific ranges that are set, measured and understandable.
I can imagine they’re doing something like the old throttle maps but for the electric power delivery to maximise its usefulness, which was removed for a reason. But again just a guess because we have no idea.
It’s all very black box at the moment and it doesn’t have to be.
The floor and aero does have to be simply by its nature, its immeasurable without a wind tunnel or the rakes.
laszlo
20th May 2024, 4:31
It absolutely has to be secret. Teams finding new ways to improve within the rules. This is F1. If you want spec series racing, there are plenty of them out there for you to choose.
I love all of these despite the team I favor (teams actually) not winning at this time. Innovations are making us better and smarter.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th May 2024, 7:33
McLaren cannot make it’s own throttle maps, power delivery etc, that would have to be done by Mercedes – the engine/powertrain manufacturer.
And would have to be the same that would be available to all teams supplied by Mercedes (that WAS already standardized years ago to avoid the fancy qualifying maps etc that teams were running at times). THAT is why I see no reason to think that the power unit, power delivery or throttle maps have anything to do with this.
And I disagree with you if you say that all power modes should be standardized between different engine/powertrain manufacturers. That defeats the whole purpose of having different companies making them.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
20th May 2024, 11:47
The power unit and all its modes are readily available for every Mercedes customer.
We don’t need to know all the inner workings of every menu and submenue in the ECU. That’s part of the technological battle in F1, again, like a wing or a floor.
Ronald
19th May 2024, 18:44
Why would we want more standardisation? F1 is a sport that includes the engineering. Apparently, that is what people want, otherwise Indycar would have been bigger than F1.
Andrew King
19th May 2024, 19:10
V8 Supercars is better than both.
Tristan
19th May 2024, 19:16
My main concern isn’t about standardisation, it’s about potential new forms of secret party-modes which were disallowed for a reason.
There’s multiple potential solutions to that I’m sure…
That being said considering the electric power delivery tech is specifically whats so attractive to manufacturers about the ’26 regs, I’m probably shouting at a brick wall.
Vulture
19th May 2024, 19:45
Step away from the internet for a while.
Tristan
19th May 2024, 20:04
OK internet police
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
20th May 2024, 2:29
They could just make the battery charge/discharge rate and status public and then it would be easy to see if there’s anything dodgy going on.
But instrument it at the electric motor, not the battery. So if there are any super-capacitors or anything then they’d be captured too.
grat
19th May 2024, 19:23
Standardize chassis, equalize engines. Make it just like IndyCar.
/sarcasm (for those impaired)
DMC
19th May 2024, 19:46
Do it! not sarcasm. F1 is a brand it way bigger than indycar, thats an insular American sport like baseball ,and what people want is genuine competitive racing.But it scares the techies to death. I can just see the headlines “Fans leave F1 in there droves because the racing is too competitive!?
Fiarari
19th May 2024, 18:54
Ferrari is doing something weird in the corners where they can suddenly keep up. FIA must investigate.
Randell Young
19th May 2024, 19:54
The whole concept of a hybrid race car is a loser.
Normally-aspirated, gas-powered, lighter, smaller race cars would be far more interesting.
Recharging a battery during a race adds tedium, not excitement.