Ferrari is concentrating on the efficiency within the qualifying periods so as to have the ability to enhance its general outcomes. On the finish of the Jeddah race weekend, Ferrari crew principal Frederic Vasseur noticed that the crew wanted to give attention to enhancing its personal efficiency so as to begin additional forward on the grid. He defined that when this purpose is achieved, the race modifications totally, with the potential to achieve six or seven seconds within the first 5 – 6 laps as an alternative of shedding time. The efficiency hole between Saturday and Sunday stems from the aerodynamic idea of the SF-25, however that doesn’t imply there is no such thing as a room for enchancment. The work on qualifying principally includes tyre preparation, drawing on the experience of the brand new technical director Loic Serra.
Good race tempo
On the 6.174-kilometre Jeddah Corniche Circuit, the Ferrari Workforce Principal acknowledged that for 35 laps, Charles Leclerc was quicker than Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen. Nonetheless, it was an uneven comparability, because the Ferrari driver had tyres 10 laps more energizing than the main duo within the last 20 laps. Nonetheless, it’s telling that after he discovered clear air after George Russell’s pit cease, the Monegasque driver lowered his lap occasions within the first stint, even being two tenths quicker than Max Verstappen’s occasions on the finish of his stint. An analogous dynamic was noticed within the comparability with Mercedes per week earlier on the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit, on a monitor and floor which might be the exact opposite of the Saudi Arabian one.
The general image exhibits a really aggressive Ferrari by way of race circumstances, unable, nonetheless, to precise its tempo whereas caught in soiled air. Therefore Frederic Vasseur’s push to focus efforts on Saturday efficiency: the French supervisor acknowledged that they’d struggled extra in qualifying and wanted to focus on that facet. He identified that ranging from fourth place meant being in soiled air, which led to shedding a few seconds within the first 5 – 6 laps and in addition emphasised the significance of being extra constant all through the complete weekend.
The similarities between the SF-25, the sleek asphalt and the quick corners of Jeddah highlighted one other of Ferrari’s limitations. In qualifying, Charles Leclerc was on pole place tempo for almost the complete lap, shedding all three and a half tenths in simply the primary two corners. Within the race, as soon as he discovered himself in clear air through the first stint, the Monegasque matched Max Verstappen’s occasions within the first sector simply earlier than the cease. This modification of scene exhibits how the qualifying hole largely stemmed from tyre preparation, whose significance was additionally highlighted by the four-time Components 1 world champion. In his last Q3 lap, the Dutchman improved his first sector by three tenths in comparison with the earlier try, benefiting from Yuki Tsunoda’s slipstream and monitor evolution, but in addition from higher tyre readiness in flip 1 after complaining about it simply minutes earlier.
It’s honest to surprise why Ferrari doesn’t attempt to pace up the preparation lap to heat the tyres higher. Nonetheless, it’s not only a matter of heating them up, however a broader situation associated to compound exploitation. On the identical monitor, for instance, in 2024, Charles Leclerc tried the double prep lap method, however was nonetheless quicker with a single warm-up lap, though the tyre was not but in its optimum window. Ferrari’s downside will not be heating the tyres, however extracting grip from the compound. The problem is not only to convey the tyre in shortly, however to stabilize it as nicely, with out overheating it over the remainder of the lap.
The artwork of tyre preparation
The Maranello engineers and technicians are due to this fact working to enhance what has progressively develop into a real artwork. As Simone Berra, Pirelli’s Chief Engineer, defined the earlier yr, tyre preparation includes a compromise between retaining the rear secure and making certain the entrance is instantly prepared for the primary sector. The Italian engineer famous that balancing each axles is considerably more difficult in excessive ambient temperatures, whereas it turns into simpler in cooler circumstances and on circuits with many high-speed corners that help in warming up the tyres.
In Jeddah, the abundance of quick corners helped with tyre preparation, subjecting the tyres to principally lateral hundreds extra evenly distributed throughout the 4 wheels in comparison with the stress of braking or traction, which focus on one of many two axles. Nonetheless, complicating all the pieces have been the 37 levels celsius on monitor in Q3, and particularly the mix of a really gentle compound with significantly clean monitor floor, a mixture that shrinks the tyre’s grip peak into an especially slender working window. All this made it very straightforward to overheat the tyre by the top of the lap, requiring a cautious strategy within the first few meters. Ferrari had a neater time within the race, exactly as a result of the used tyre, as soon as stabilized, might function throughout a wider temperature vary.
To enhance, Ferrari is counting on the experience of technical director Loic Serra, a tyre specialist. Through the presentation of the SF-25 single-seater, the Frenchman defined that tyre administration is carefully linked not solely to the automobile itself but in addition to the best way the human ingredient interacts with it, describing it as a captivating mix of each areas. In Maranello, suspension setups might be studied to assist the tyre work higher over a single lap, however, as Adrian Newey reminds us, the setup is usually complementary to the traits of the automobile’s idea.
Additional room for enchancment lies within the driving through the warm-up lap, a method to be refined along with the drivers. To succeed, a greater understanding of the brand new 2025 Pirelli tire might be essential, with which groups are nonetheless taking their first steps. The Jeddah weekend marked solely the second outing of the C5 compound this season, which is able to return in Miami, the place Ferrari hopes to see some progress. Loic Serra had already cautioned again in February that tyre work is a steady, endless course of, whether or not it includes long-distance administration or extracting better efficiency over a single lap. The Ferrari technical director famous that they continue learning, and the extra data they achieve, the extra they will apply it to automobile design, setup choices, and even changes to the motive force’s type.
Qualifying struggles aren’t only a tyre situation, because the SF-25 inherits from the 2024 automobile an aerodynamic idea aimed toward race efficiency. It’s a consequence of the intense sensitivity of floor impact automobiles to trip top, a side that forces groups to decide on the optimum floor clearance for the ground. As Jock Clear, Ferrari’s Senior Efficiency Engineer, defined again in September, every crew has its personal strategy to optimizing the automobile’s efficiency. The British engineer famous that because of this the hierarchy among the many automobiles tends to shift barely when shifting from qualifying to the race.
Engineers usually repeat that the best way the automobile strikes in relation to the bottom modifications fully between qualifying and race, each because of gas load and, above all, because of pace. In a nook taken at 200 kilometers per hour in qualifying, going simply 10 kilometers per hour slower within the race can cut back downforce by 100 kilograms, which is the equal of a full gas tank. Jock Clear noticed that in some corners, a automobile’s competitiveness could range relying on the quantity of gas onboard and whether or not it’s throughout qualifying or the race.
Subsequently, efficiency over a single lap additionally depends upon the working level chosen for the SF-25 single-seater. The Ferrari technicians have room to regulate the setup, persevering with to work on the trade-off between trip top and suspension stiffness to attempt to extract extra efficiency from the ground in qualifying, so long as this doesn’t compromise tyre put on within the race. On paper, additional optimization could be attainable by aerodynamic updates. This, nonetheless, will depend upon how lengthy Ferrari considers it worthwhile to proceed growing the present mission earlier than shifting all sources to the 2026 Components 1 automobile.
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