Vanja #66 wrote: ↑18 May 2024, 20:47
I don't think there's anything too clever to do tomorrow. From second row, Ferrari can either try to go with S-M or S-H strategy if they want to try to take the lead as early as possible. If not and choose to start on M they need to extend until a V/SC period. This is a sure thing in Imola and will bring much bigger time gain than any kind of undercut.
In any case, it will be very hard for Ferrari both to overtake and defend due to higher aero load of beam wing, so ultimately anything more than a P3 will be a great result.
They made a mistake on aero load and will suffer the consequences and that's it
This is starting to become a trend because it has happened on almost every race this season (not the beam wing in particular, but also and mainly the rear wing). Strange, considering the team has a million times more data than any of us. It begs the question whether they suffer from PTSD from last season. If yes, it's about time they overcome it. I don't want to talk about conservative wing choices anymore.
Generally speaking, since I'm more of a "glass half-full" person, even though this is the first time this season I watched the qualifying end with a bit of a disappointment (this is thanks to good form in practice sessions - I didn't pay attention to gained numbers from media), looking more into the whys and hows helps put everything more into perspective. While the upgrade package was not a small one, it also was not as huge as McLaren's who basically changed everything on the car from front to back. As per Sainz Ferrari's first upgrades were never going to adress the issues which showed up on track this season. Also, Imola was not going to play into the strengths of the car, certainly not as much as into McLaren's.
I'm inclined to say that the team still needs to further understand their new package and alone from this there's scope for more performance extraction. Optimizing the car is not an easy task. There's a reason McLaren used flow-vis in practice sessions despite having brought their upgrades in Miami already.
Let's see what tomorrow brings. With a bit of luck everything is possible.