Juzh wrote: ↑22 Feb 2024, 23:49
Sainz's fastest lap
https://streamable.com/rjqvjn
I think C4 tyre is giving him serious amount of grip. 136 km/h in last turn is super fast. He gains 2 tenths on 2023 pole just in that one corner (2020 mercedes 132 km/h). I reckon this C4 is about a second up on C3 in terms of pure performance, maybe even more.
I had to watch some 2023 Bahrain onboards to recalibrate my visual observmometer, but man, yea, I dont know if it's the tires, but the Ferrari is just way more pointy than anything we saw in last year's practice/qualifying, even comparing to Max's pole lap.
I'm sure all the cars have come a good ways since then, but it's a very sizeable discrepancy. Also, top speeds are quite a bit lower. Alonso was hitting 315kph in his best FP2 lap
way before the braking zone last year, while the Ferrari here is actually running out of power at 315kph even before the braking zone. Good bit of laptime left, at least with these tires. Still, I think it's indicative that these cars are all likely going to be a fair bit quicker this year, not to downplay what I think are clear improvements for Ferrari.