Ferrari pick up the pace too late to stop Red Bull running away again

9 comments on “Ferrari pick up the pace too late to stop Red Bull running away again”

1. 

   pcxmac (@pcxmac)
   10th March 2024, 8:19

   Charles didn’t even try for second. Thats how bad it is. He just wanted the fastest lap at the end.
   1. 

      miciek (@micio)
      10th March 2024, 8:49

      Well said!

      On top of that, Max wanted it too and lost. So Leclerc had the pace earlier but chose not to use it.

      On top of that, Bearman was just 24 seconds behind him in the same car. After having just one hour of training (vs Leclerc’s 6 seasons).

      F1 is not that hard anymore, they are just cruising most of the time. That’s why Max breaks all these records.
      1. 

         Mr B
         10th March 2024, 11:07

         It’s hard to say if Leclerc had the pace relative to the Red Bulls at the beginning because as you stated he chose not to use his ultimate pace but then neither did the Red Bulls. Max has said before that he is managing his tyres from the out lap, if Leclerc had more pace he too was clearly managing tyres to give him his overall fastest race time. It’s a shame to not see these cars and drivers going flat out for the entire race and see tired and exhausted drivers on the podium.
2. 

   EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
   10th March 2024, 8:33

   I was breifly encouraged that the Merc does appear to actually have some pace in it, until I remembered that LH had softs later in the race than almost all of the front running teams.

   And on the subject of LH, I don’t know why given the relatively large distance to the guys ahead of him, but for some reason I felt he drove quite well in this race.

   Without the Red Bull being particularly pushed in the race it’s still unclear what real advantage they hold at the moment. I do believe that Max does like to have a push regardless, but even he would not want to stress the engine more than reasonably necessary.
3. 

   mars
   10th March 2024, 8:57

   It seems Ferrari is trying to change their design philosophy from a one-lap car to towards a race car.
   Lecler is doing very well against those rocket ships of RBR.
4. 

   allbo94
   10th March 2024, 9:15

   If Ferrari really had the pace, Leclerc would have fought for that second place. Imho, Red Bull started to cruise after lap 35.
5. 

   MichaelN
   10th March 2024, 10:50

   The lap time graph suggests Pérez had it all easily covered throughout the entire race, and one inconsequential fast lap attempt for Leclerc at the very end doesn’t really mean much. Until we see Red Bull really push, we won’t know what they can do. Back in 2015, during the Italian GP it seemed like Hamilton was under investigation, so they ‘created’ a 25 second gap to cover any potential penalties. It was close, sure, but they were able to do it. It’s rare cases like that where the true speed is shown that give a better picture than, like here in Saudi Arabia, an easy 1-2 cruise to the finish.

   Also, a fast lap on the last lap on 43 lap old Hard tyres. That whole tyre thing sure is working great! … Right?
6. 

   notagrumpyfan
   11th March 2024, 8:33

   Best of the Rest Championship*:
   1) Haas 66 (HUL 33, MAG 33)
   2) RB 43 (TSU 22, RIC 21)
   3) Williams 38 (ALB 28, SAR 10)
   4) Sauber 34 (ZHO 28, BOT 6)
   5) Alpine 22 (OCO 18, GAS 4)

   * regular points structure for bottom 5 teams, incl. FLAP
   1. 

      sumedh
      12th March 2024, 6:06

      This is good. Will be useful to track this.

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