Ferrari started the Austrian weekend with some ambitions. After two weak weekends, they wanted to get back on track. But that didn’t happen. Why? Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc have been answering this question in increasingly contradictory ways after their fourth and sixth places in the Formula 1 qualifying in Spielberg. Does the SF-24 have major problems or not?
The reason why Charles Leclerc is only starting from seventh place is quickly explained by a botched final Q3 lap. First, Leclerc slid to the edge of the gravel bed in turn six. In an attempt to save something, he then completely messed up coming out of the penultimate corner and not only slid through the gravel, but also into the grass.
Leclerc reprimands himself after Q3 mistake: Top 3 for Ferrari missed
“That cost us his good chance of making it into the top three,” said Leclerc angrily. Before that, he had used a slightly used soft tyre in the first Q3 run with half a fast Q2 lap already. This time was only a good seven tenths slower than the best lap of the dominant pole setter. Max Verstappen. It is easy to imagine that with new tires he would have found at least two tenths and thus pushed George Russell down to third place.
“We changed a few things after the sprint race and it went in the right direction,” said Leclerc, explaining the turnaround after a disappointing sprint qualifying on Friday. “We seemed better in the high-speed area. I also think that this direction will help for the race. It’s a shame that I’m starting from sixth place because of the mistake. That made my life a little more difficult.”
Leclerc sees a top-three result in the race as optimistic, but certainly realistic. Even if he still thinks McLaren and Verstappen are too strong. However, Oscar Piastri is starting behind him after a track limit violation. Beating Mercedes in the race and keeping Piastri behind him is therefore feasible.
Different world for Carlos Sainz: P4 is still a success
Carlos Sainz does not share this optimistic mood about the car, although he is starting from a much better starting position, starting in fourth place. For him at least, the setup changes during the lunch break made the SF-24 faster, but also harder to drive: “It was difficult to get a lap in. I would have taken fourth place straight away before qualifying.”
After qualifying, a fundamental contradiction in the feedback on the car between Sainz and Leclerc became increasingly apparent. While Leclerc found a good balance, Sainz complained about the bouncing that kept cropping up in the fast corners: “That makes these places excessively slow. In turns seven and nine we lost a tenth of Max’s time. It’s very difficult to make up for that because we’re practically equally fast in the slow part.”
Leclerc’s analysis is different: “We can still put together a good car at high speed. The problem is that we then lose too much time in slow corners.” He swears that the balance window is currently narrow, but can be hit.
For Sainz, it remains a question of principle. The new update should not be a problem, at least in terms of performance: “We see that it works in all places where we don’t have bouncing. But if you trigger the bouncing at high speed and have to take it out, you lose what you gain elsewhere. The more high-speed corners there are, the slower you are.”
“I knew that on normal tracks we are still not at the level we should be at, at the level of Red Bull and McLaren,” concludes Sainz. He does not want to rule out the possibility that the increasing bouncing problem is due to the update. And now? “The team is working at full speed to solve the problem.”