Метка: Japanese GP

No guarantee that Ferrari F1 tyre issues are resolved

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Last year tyre management over race stints was a major weakness for Ferrari, with a lack of consistency across stints and from set to set.

The SF-24 has been competitive over long runs at the first four events of the season, with Carlos Sainz winning in Australia and the team making the podium in the other three races.

However, Vasseur still wants to see how the car performs at other venues and in cooler conditions after hot weather dominated the early events of the season.

“I think from the beginning of the season we are much better on the tyre management,” he said after the Suzuka race. 

“And degradation – I think we were able to do the fastest lap in Jeddah and Melbourne on the last lap. It was almost the case today for one-tenth, I think.

“We did a very good step forward on this one, we worked a lot on the weaknesses, and we improved massively on the tyre management, drivers, strategy, and the team.

“And yeah, now we have some other weaknesses, and we have to improve somewhere else if we want to do a better job.

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“But I think this one is very well under control now. But what is true one day, it’s not true the other day, on the tyre management and we don’t have to consider that this is done.

“Next week in China will have another tarmac, different weather conditions, and it will be a new challenge.

Asked if cooler conditions might help Ferrari in its chase of Red Bull Vasseur said: «In China, we will have the opportunity to test in colder conditions. But I don’t know, because also we did only FP3 [in Japan] in colder conditions.

“I’m not sure that we are in a better shape, you never know about the engine settings, level of fuel. The deg was under control for us on Saturday, but also for them. And it was almost the same today.”

Vasseur noted that the outcome of the Suzuka race, which saw Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc finish third and fourth, was as good as it could have been.

“I think that everything went very well on Sunday,” he said. “The strategy was the good one for both cars, the defending of the position on track, tyre management was under control, the pitstops went well, the pace was okay.

“I’m very convinced that we need a good Sunday and if we have to change something, it’s more the Saturday that we have to improve, rather than the Sunday. But it was a good job, and a good teamwork.”

Watch: F1 2024 Japanese Grand Prix Review – Normal Service Resumed



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Stella defends McLaren F1 team strategy in “complex” Japanese GP

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Norris started third and was the first of the frontrunners to pit, but as the race unfolded he lost out to Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to finish in fifth, while the latter came through to fourth from eighth place on the grid using a one-stop strategy.

After the race, while accepting that the Ferraris were expected to have stronger race pace, Norris suggested he could have run longer before his final pitstop rather than coming in at the same time as Leclerc.

But Stella insisted the team made the right calls with a view to an attacking strategy that might have earned a podium finish.

“I think we were a little out of options because when we stopped Lando at the start, we kind of knew that Ferrari were ready to go to undercut us,” he said.

“So we wanted to play preventatively. We had two sets of hard, so we could stop early, and in stopping Lando early we wanted to see like, can we go for the podium? And we even tried to see can we go to beat Perez?

“I thought it was worthwhile trying that. Ultimately, this put us on a race which might have been slightly unpreferred from overall time [of the race] point of view, but I think it was very worthwhile trying. So on Lando’s side we are happy that we wanted to try finishing on the podium.”

Watch: F1 2024 Japanese Grand Prix Review – Normal Service Resumed

Addressing Norris’s questioning of the timing of his second pit visit, Stella said the team also had to keep an eye on Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

“The timing of the second stop was forced by Leclerc,” he said. “Also there was Carlos approaching Lando. So Carlos would have overtaken Lando and once Carlos overtakes Lando, Lando loses time, and then he ends up behind Hamilton and Russell.

“Because when you race so many cars, you have to consider multiple implications. It’s not like you’re racing only one car.

“I’m not sure how fun it is for spectators, but for us, it makes the race quite complex in terms of who you are actually fighting.”

Asked by Autosport if the team could have done something different and beaten Leclerc, Stella said: “I don’t think today it was possible to do much more, to finish on a podium in particular. Maybe with Lando if we had given up attempting to finish on a podium, we could have finished ahead of Leclerc.

“That is, if anything, the only opportunity in hindsight, that could have come to us, but it would have meant giving up a podium finish, which we were not ready to do.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Stella conceded that Oscar Piastri had a more low-key race on his way to eighth place, as the Australia lost out to Russell in the closing laps.

“With Oscar, I don’t think there were many different options at all today,” he said. “If we look at the final classification, it goes in the order of car competitiveness. I think just a shame that with Oscar, with the final lock up, we lost the position to Russell.

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“Otherwise, we would have finished ahead of Mercedes and that, like I say, could pretty much be the finishing order — considering that Fernando [Alonso] he has done a very good job like he normally does, so he’s a little special in that respect, and I think alters a little bit the competitiveness of the car.”

Summing up the weekend he said: “We are happy. We are [the] third-best scoring team once again, consolidating the third position in the championship. That’s a positive outcome.”



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Alonso joked about F1 ban over Piastri DRS defence tactics

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A fortnight on from receiving a penalty for potentially dangerous driving against George Russell during a last-lap battle in Australia, Alonso found himself needing to hold his rivals back once again at Suzuka.

In the closing stages of the race, Alonso was at the head of an intense fight for sixth place, as George Russell back in eighth unleashed a late fightback on fresh tyres and started closing in on seventh-placed Oscar Piastri.

Well aware that fresher tyres would give Russell a huge advantage if they had to fight wheel-to-wheel, Alonso knew that his best hope of disturbing his Mercedes rival’s advances was to give Piastri behind him the benefit of DRS.

By keeping the McLaren within one second of him, Piastri having the straightline speed boost made it much harder for Russell to be able to find a way past.

This was exactly the same tactic that Carlos Sainz had used to great effect in Singapore last year when he ensured that the pursuing Lando Norris was kept within DRS range as that would help hold back a similar fightback from Russell who has been making progress in third.

Alonso’s tactics paid off brilliantly in slowing Russell’s advance and, when the Mercedes driver clashed with Piastri at the chicane late on to delay the pair briefly, the Aston Martin driver made a break for it over the final laps to secure his position.

Speaking to Spanish television channel DAZN after the race about his defensive games, Alonso said it was just normal racing, but cheekily suggested that after his penalty in Australia nothing could be taken for granted now.

«I don’t know what to say anymore after Australia, let’s see if I get disqualified for the rest of the championship,” he smiled.

“It’s clear that having Piastri behind, it was a way to defend myself from Russell, so I was probably taking a bit of battery off on the last straight to get Piastri within a second.

“Carlos did it like that in Singapore last year too, and it’s a normal racing thing.”

Piastri said it had been pretty obvious to him what game Alonso was up to, as he eventually lost seventh place to Russell on the final lap after making a mistake at the chicane and losing momentum.

“I could tell that Fernando was trying to keep me there by the way he was using his energy,” Piastri explained when asked by Motorsport.com for his view on events.

“With how difficult it is to follow in these cars, it’s quite a good strategy to stop a quicker car coming through.

“There were a few tough moments with George but, in the end, I made a mistake and he got past.

“So, disappointing to let that one slip right at the end but I just struggled a bit in general today.”

Watch: F1 2024 Japanese Grand Prix Review – Normal Service Resumed



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Autosport Podcast: F1 Japanese GP review

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO



The squad’s miserable Australian adventure appeared a distant memory as the Bulls charged to a 1-2 result that never seriously looked in doubt.

The latest edition of the Autosport Podcast discusses Red Bull’s race, along with various other key talking points from the Japanese weekend.

Jake Boxall-Legge and Filip Cleeren join host Bryn Lucas to also examine another podium result for Carlos Sainz, as well as a sixth-place finish for Fernando Alonso that the Aston Martin driver rated as one of his top-five F1 performances.

The opening-lap clash between Alexander Albon and Daniel Ricciardo is also dissected, including the impact it has on a Williams team that has already been battling a shortage of parts.

Meanwhile, McLaren might be performing well on track, but there is plenty of intrigue away from it with technical director David Sanchez departing after just three months, and this is also discussed on the podcast.



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Stroll’s top speed radio rant triggered by F1 tyre offset, says Aston Martin

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Stroll found himself having to battle through the field at Suzuka after a disappointing qualifying performance had left him down in 16th on the grid.

He did manage to make progress, eventually finishing 12th in the race at Suzuka but, in the closing stages, as he fought the RB of Yuki Tsunoda, he voiced his frustration at the rate his Japanese rival was pulling away on the straights.

«It’s unbelievable how bad our speed is on the straight, man,» declared Stroll. «It’s like a different category!»

The manner of his message reminded many of the famous ‘GP2 engine’ radio outburst that his Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso launched at the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix against Honda.

But, rather than Stroll’s outburst being a reference to a lack of straightline performance from Aston Martin, which has worked a lot in improving its aero efficiency since last year, the reality of what he was experiencing was quite different.

Team principal Mike Krack revealed after the race that he had looked into the circumstances surrounding Stroll’s complaint and found that it was actually nothing to do with the Canadian’s Aston Martin lacking top speed through either too much drag or not enough engine power.

Instead, he said it was an illusion that had been caused by rivals around him having better tyres, which gave them much greater traction out of corners so they could accelerate and reach top speed earlier.

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

«This is something I have looked at actually,» said Krack when asked by Autosport about what was happening with Stroll.

«What you see across the field is that there are very small differences in terms of straightline performance. But what you have is that at different times of the race, there are different tyre conditions, and the acceleration out of the corners is a different one.

«I think a lot of these comments come from such situations.

«If you look at the power-limited data, you see that all the cars are very, very similar. But the tyre conditions at various times of the race, you are offset by 10-12-15 laps of tyres, and then you accelerate completely differently.»

Speed trap figures from the Japanese GP show there were only very small differences between Stroll and Tsunoda.

At the sector two speed trap, which is on the run down to 130R, Tsunoda’s top speed in the race was registered at 304.8km/h, while Stroll logged 303.4km/h.



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Albon feared about Williams F1 spares «before I even hit the wall»

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On the opening lap, Albon was hit by RB’s poor-starting Daniel Ricciardo in Turn 3, at the start of the Esses.

The glancing blow sent both cars into the tyre barriers, which had to be repaired during the following 30-minute red flag interruption.

While the accident happened at relatively low speeds, another crash was the last thing Williams needed.

The team still has no spare chassis available, which made Logan Sargeant sit out the Australian Grand Prix after Albon damaged his chassis in a practice shunt and took over his team-mate’s car.

Sargeant returned for Japan with the repaired chassis and escaped further drama when he crashed in FP1.

Another shunt in the race for Albon puts further squeeze on Williams in terms of spare parts production and the Thai driver said the thought of damaging his chassis went through his mind even before he hit the wall.

«Immediately. Before I even hit the wall,» he replied when asked when the spare chassis situation played on his mind.

Marshals assist after a crash between Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Alex Albon, Williams FW46, at the start

Marshals assist after a crash between Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01, Alex Albon, Williams FW46, at the start

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

«It’s exactly what we don’t need. The impact itself was relatively low speeds, but it’s the way that I hit the tyre wall. Normally, we have this kind of plastic barriers, the Armco. But this was much more dug in and it really stops very violently.

«They’re the questions I’m worried about, not for me, [but] for the car, because that’s where you can do damage.

«We haven’t had the car back yet. We need to assess it, hopefully it’s okay.»

When asked for his view of what happened, Albon said he was trying to back off once he realised he was in Ricciardo’s blind spot, but couldn’t help avoiding the contact.

«I had a grip advantage [on soft tyres], kind of surprised [with] the grip I had out of [Turn] 2, and was able to pull underneath him and have a good run into 3,» Albon explained.

«More about just trying to get him a little bit off line [at Turn] 3 and try and find a way for 4, 5, 6, 7 — to see if I could upset his line a little bit.

«Obviously just one of them. He didn’t see me, clearly. I tried to back out of it last minute.

«There was a moment where I realised he hadn’t seen me here, the way he’s pulling across, so I hit the brakes and tried to get out of it.

The cars of Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01 and Alex Albon, Williams FW46 in the tyre barrier after they crashed on the opening lap

The cars of Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01 and Alex Albon, Williams FW46 in the tyre barrier after they crashed on the opening lap

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

«But I was almost too far alongside him and he still was coming across, I couldn’t avoid it.»

With no spare car available until Miami, Williams is continuing to walk on eggshells while its pool of spare parts dwindles.

«It’s no secret that we are having a tough time with it at the moment with the parts we’ve got,» Albon acknowledged. «This is going to hurt us for sure.»



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Ferrari still in hunt for more F1 wins despite Red Bull’s Suzuka dominance, says Sainz

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The Spaniard arrived at Suzuka in a buoyant mood after leading team-mate Charles Leclerc to a 1-2 finish at the Australian GP, and hopes had been high of a strong showing in qualifying after some promising long-run form in practice.

However, Ferrari endured a more challenging time in the fight for grid positions, as Sainz ended up fourth on the grid – 0.485 seconds adrift of pole position man Max Verstappen. Leclerc qualified eighth.

And while that gap to the front has highlighted just how much more progress Ferrari needs to make before it can consider itself a proper challenger to Red Bull, he thinks that it is a track-specific phenomenon that has been exposed here.

Asked by Autosport if the weekend had been a reality check for where Ferrari really stood against Red Bull, Sainz said: “Yeah. But we will fight for wins in other tracks.

“We will maybe go to the Monzas or the Singapores, and Miami maybe, and we’re still in the mix, you know, for [the victory]. But there’s other tracks where the Red Bull is just simply a much better package.

“As I said in the press conference [on Thursday], until we develop this car for this kind of track, they will be three-tenths to half a second ahead. So it’s time to put our heads down and try to bring a good package to help at this sort of track.”

Sainz explained that he never expected Ferrari to shine at Suzuka, with the circuits’s high-speed swoops putting a premium on the kind of aero performance that Red Bull’s RB20 is so strong at.

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“That’s why yesterday I was trying to bring everyone down a bit — because I knew that being one second away last year [was not going to be wiped away this year],” he explained.

“I know that we didn’t improve one second the car from last year to this year in a place like Suzuka, so it was going to be always tricky.

“But I’m very happy with how the car feels this year. It’s a step better. We just need to do another step in this sort of track. Anyway, I did some very clean, good laps today, that put me P4, which is a good position to fight tomorrow.”

But as well as Red Bull being clearly in front, Sainz reckoned that Suzuka had shown that McLaren too had an edge at high-speed venues.

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“It’s clear that in the sort of long high-speed corners, the Red Bull and McLaren are still a step ahead of us,” he added. “A clear step ahead of us.

“But hopefully tomorrow we can fight for the podium. I think in the race, Red Bull are still out of reach. But with the McLaren hopefully, we can be a bit closer in the race.”



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Tech images from the pitlane explained

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Alpine A524 technical detail

Alpine A524 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A look at the two front wing specifications available to Alpine in Japan, with the newer of the two being the upper one (splattered with green flo-viz paint). Note not only how the shape of the upper flaps differ considerably different but also how the team has made the switch to semi-detached flap tips at the endplate juncture.

McLaren MCL38 technical detail

McLaren MCL38 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A look at the McLaren MCL38 as mechanics prepared the car, notably with the floor off the car we’re able to see the floor fences and the swept leading edge of the floor.

Mercedes W15 technical detail

Mercedes W15 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A look under the covers of the Mercedes W15 reveals details of how the power unit and ancillaries are packaged, while we’re also able to see a number of metal stays housed within the sidepod’s bodywork that reduce the floor’s flexion.

McLaren MCL38 technical detail

McLaren MCL38 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A close up of the McLaren MCL38 chassis and the bodywork blister that interfaces with the floor and rear leg of the upper wishbone to better manage the airflow downstream.

Aston Martin AMR24 technical detail

Aston Martin AMR24 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A close up of the extreme detail work that’s been undertaken around the inboard fixture point on the Aston Martin AMR24’s rear leg of the upper wishbone. Note how there’s a very thin tail section that’s aggressively swept upwards as it mates with the bodywork panel (red arrow).

Aston Martin AMR24 sidepod and floor comparison

Aston Martin AMR24 sidepod and floor comparison

Photo by: Uncredited

Aston Martin has a new floor and sidepod bodywork in Japan, with the descending swage line reintroduced in the sidepod’s bodywork in the front corner (red arrow), while the team has switched to a more twisted edge wing (blue arrow) and no cut-out at the rear of the floor, with a tapered tail section to the edge wing, where it had previously intersected the cut-out.

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A close up of the new upper intake placed beside the rear leg of the halo on the Red Bull RB20, while an additional vertical baffle wing has been added to the wing mirror assembly to help redirect the airflow across the sidepod’s upper surface too.

Nose cone and front wing of the Haas VF-24

Nose cone and front wing of the Haas VF-24

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

A top-down overview of the Haas VF-24’s front wing assembly, which notably has the outwashing slot gap separators between the upper two flap elements, while the semi-detached flap tips are skewed relative to the endplate.

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A close up of the front brake end fence and the smaller cooling inlet that’s been installed on the Red Bull RB20 this weekend.

RB F1 Team VCARB 01 technical detail

RB F1 Team VCARB 01 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Side view of the VCARB01, which has a new floor available in Japan, featuring revised floor fences and adjustments to the edge wing and the floor’s edge that runs alongside.

Alpine A524 technical detail

Alpine A524 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A close up of the rear end of the Alpine A524, with a notably shorter lower rear brake deflector being employed.

Williams FW46 technical detail

Williams FW46 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A close up of the new diveplane and semi-detached endplate and flap tip configuration that has been introduced by Williams this weekend.

Williams FW46 technical detail

Williams FW46 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

An overview of the FW46’s sidepod bodywork and the intricate detailing on the floor’s edge.

Williams FW46 technical detail

Williams FW46 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A close up of the rear wing with its semi-detached tip section and swept central pillar mounting.

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A side view of the area around the new intake beside the halo and the snorkel-like bodywork that carries the airflow internally.

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A side view of the RB20’s rear wing assembly which shows how the rear endplate cutout is affected by the use of the semi-detached tip section above.

RB F1 Team VCARB 01 technical detail

RB F1 Team VCARB 01 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A close up of the front wing on RB’s VCARB01 upon which the team has placed a camera pod in the outer portion to capture footage of how the wing behaves under load.

RB F1 Team VCARB 01 technical detail

RB F1 Team VCARB 01 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Similarly, RB hung a camera pod from the rear section of its sidepod during free practice to gather information regarding how the rear section of the floor behaves.

Aston Martin AMR24 technical detail

Aston Martin AMR24 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

The rear wing assembly on the Aston Martin AMR24 sprayed in flo-viz paint, as the team looks for visual confirmation that the updates that have been installed on the car this weekend are working as anticipated.

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Photo by: Jon Noble

A close up of the new edge wing on the Red Bull RB20, which features a tab-like vane on the rear corner.

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A close up of the rear facing and upwardly swept rear brake duct outlet on the RB20, which also features a pair of large winglets that are hung from its side.

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Red Bull Racing RB20 technical detail

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

A top-down overview of the Red Bull RB20’s nose and front wing assembly which shows the narrow ridge in the outboard section of the wing that works with the endplate to generate outwash.



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