After a stellar performance during Friday’s qualifying and the sprint race on Saturday, Ferrari faced a nightmare of a Sunday at the Chinese Grand Prix. This led team boss Fred Vasseur to state that understanding the fluctuations in their performance is crucial for the Scuderia.
In the aftermath of a tough debut weekend in Melbourne, Lewis Hamilton showcased significant improvement at the Chinese Grand Prix. From his first laps in the sole practice session, the seven-time F1 champion impressed everyone with his speed, grabbing pole position for the Shanghai F1 Sprint with an outstanding lap.
Hamilton then took charge of the 19-lap sprint race, cruising to a dominant maiden victory with Ferrari. However, things took a turn during the main qualifying session, where he only managed to secure a fifth-place start for the grand prix.
Despite a spectacular start on Sunday, Hamilton’s race took a downturn when he collided with his teammate, Charles Leclerc. As they approached Turn 2 on Lap 1, Hamilton veered back to the racing line, grazing Leclerc’s front wing and causing damage.
Ferrari estimated that this damage equated to an aerodynamic loss of 20 to 30 points, usually warranting a wing change, especially on a track that demands excellent front-end grip due to its long-radius corners. However, they opted against changing it to prevent Leclerc from getting caught in heavy traffic.
Even with the damage, Leclerc showed better pace, prompting Ferrari to orchestrate a position swap between their drivers. Subsequently, Hamilton found himself under pressure from reigning champion Max Verstappen. As a result, Hamilton decided to pit for fresh tires, adopting a two-stop strategy, which proved slower.
Ultimately, Leclerc and Hamilton finished fifth and sixth, but both were disqualified after the race. Leclerc’s car was under the minimum weight requirement, while Hamilton’s car had a plank infringement.
Team boss Fred Vasseur admitted that Ferrari is grappling with understanding the drop in Hamilton’s speed following his sprint race success.
“Today was challenging with some peculiar situations,” Vasseur remarked. “On one side, we had Charles dealing with front wing damage, and on the other, Lewis faced unexpected struggles after his brilliant tire management yesterday. We need to delve into why things didn’t go as planned.”
Vasseur also found a silver lining in Leclerc’s race pace, especially considering the damage from his clash with Hamilton.
“Everyone struggled with tire management today; they were hard to predict. Still, there are positives, like Charles maintaining a strong pace despite the wing damage. We finished 20 seconds behind McLaren and ten behind Mercedes,” he continued. “Our focus will be on fully exploiting the car’s potential moving forward.” The Frenchman assured that addressing these issues is now high on their agenda.
