Following two dominant years, Red Bull are nonetheless the field-leading group, however Ferrari have edged a bit nearer to the reigning world champion outfit for this 12 months. F1Technical’s Balázs Szabó evaluations the 2 groups’ relative efficiency after the opening quarter of the 2024 season.
Red Bull’s RB20 has been the field-leading machine to date this season with Ferrari and McLaren having posed the most important menace to the Milton Keynes-based outfit to date this season. The Italian and the British outfit capitalized on the alternatives in Australia and Miami respectively to safe shock victories.
In Melbourne, Verstappen was pressured to retire early on due to brake-related points which handed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz the chance to steal a sensational, dominant victory forward of his team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The opening a part of the Miami spherical noticed Verstappen management proceedings, albeit not in a dominant trend, as he normally does. A mid-race security automotive interval then helped McLaren’s Lando Norris take over the lead, and with Verstappen being on used tyres, he had no reply to his rival’s tempo. However, in each races, Ferrari and McLaren had real tempo and regarded sturdy all by way of the weekend.
In the opening spherical in Bahrain, Max Verstappen grabbed pole place with a lap of 1m29.179s, albeit it was Charles Leclerc to document absolutely the quickest qualifying lap in Q2 with a lap time that was 14 hundreds of a second sooner than what the Dutchman managed in Q3.
It implies that Ferrari was the general quickest automotive in qualifying in Manama. However, the pecking order has considerably modified for the race with Red Bull ready to maintain the tyres in a excellent window and form, which meant that the hole has elevated to almost half a second per lap in favour of Red Bull.
In Round 2, there was not a large swing in efficiency between the 2 groups. Max Verstappen claimed the pole in Jeddah with a time of 1m27.472 with Ferrari’s Leclerc taking second simply three tenths of a second adrift. The three-tenth distinction barely elevated to 4 and half a tenth of a second within the race.
In Australia, Carlos Sainz was Verstappen’s closest challenger as soon as once more, however the Dutchman had a two-tenth margin over the Spaniard in qualifying. However, the observe classes indicated that Ferrari may pose a greater menace to Red Bull in race trim. Verstappen’s early retirement from the race didn’t enable confirming this notion, and Perez’s lack of tempo recommended that the Scuderia would have had a real probability of beating the reigning world champion group in Melbourne ought to Verstappen stay in rivalry.
When the sector descended in Suzuka, the tempo delta was extraordinarily tight between Red Bull and Ferrari. Sainz was the main Ferrari in qualifying, however he was almost 4 tenths of a second adrift of Verstappen’s benchmark. Interestingly, Japan was the primary grand prix of the season the place Ferrari’s deficit to Red Bull turned out to be barely smaller within the race than in qualifying.
The Chinese Grand Prix led to a frighteningly large tempo distinction between Ferrari and Red Bull. Leclerc was the quickest of the Ferrari drivers, however the five-time race winner was over six tenths of a second adrift of Verstappen’s benchmark.
Interestingly, that giant hole elevated additional within the race by altwo tenths of a second. The Shanghai spherical turned out to be Ferrari’s worst race performance-wise within the opening a part of the tempo.
In Miami, the fluctuation in tempo distinction between the 2 groups was even smaller than in Japan, albeit it was a far more promising spherical for Ferrari. Leclerc was the main Ferrari driver once more, ending the qualifying session one and half a second off Verstappen. However, the 57-lap race noticed Ferrari shut in much more on Red Bull, chopping the deficit down to simply a tenth of a second per lap.
Considering the very best qualifying lap occasions of Ferrari and Red Bull within the first six predominant qualifying classes, the Scuderia has lacked 0.305 seconds to the Milton Keynes-based outfit to date.
When it comes to race tempo, solely 5 of the opening six races might be considered, as Verstappen didn’t full the Australian Grand Prix following his early retirement. Disregarding the Melbourne spherical, the hole has been 0.442 seconds between Red Bull and Ferrari.
The qualifying and race tempo deficit clearly exhibits a pattern and two contrasting targets of Red Bull and Ferrari. While the Anglo-Austrian group put their focus utterly on race tempo final 12 months, which noticed them lose the pole place on a number of events, Red Bull’s goal has been to enhance their outright tempo in qualifying mode. In flip, it has lead to a slight loss when it comes to race efficiency, albeit they nonetheless get pleasure from a appreciable hole in race circumstances.
By distinction, Ferrari have been determined to enhance their tyre administration and their race tempo for 2024. The Scuderia have efficiently achieved their targets by altering essential aerodynamic options on their 2024 automotive, however the change in strategy additionally meant that they’ve misplaced outright velocity in relation to Red Bull.
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