2024 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[deadhead]

That just sounds like he should be loosing the car way more often than he does!

Impressive.

[deadhead]

In theory there is a small amount of energy harvesting that you can do while the throttle is open mid-corner. It's a unique opportunity to do it with a driver who drives like this. I wonder if the PU engineers explored this.

It looks like it's ~5-10% on average for a very short time, which would be negligible in terms of any harvesting?

[AR3-GP]

In theory there is a small amount of energy harvesting that you can do while the throttle is open mid-corner. It's a unique opportunity to do it with a driver who drives like this. I wonder if the PU engineers explored this.

It looks like it's ~5-10% on average for a very short time, which would be negligible in terms of any harvesting?

I don't know if it's negligible. F1 is a sport of small margins being added together. Leclerc would have been loved by engineers in the blown exhaust era.

[dialtone]

That just sounds like he should be loosing the car way more often than he does!

Impressive.

He only does it when the car is predictable, he’s no fool, he just has more ability to do that.

It’s not easy for him either as a couple of times in his lap he lost the rear and couldn’t accelerate as quickly, but in city tracks this style is just superior.

[venkyhere]

Why no one asks Leclerc why he uses the throttle while braking into the corners... No one in the grid does it.

Even in this track he is only one who is using a bit of throttle in each corner. The biggest difference is in the last one before the long straight, where all the other drivers are at 0% and he is at like 10ish %.

When front wheels are turned, they generate steering force and torque around CoG. As far as I understood when this was explained to me by vehicle dynamics engineers, when the car starts to pivot around CoG during steering, RWD cars induce oversteer with throttle application due to inertia of the rear end that "wants" to keep going straight and generates torque around CoG. With small amount of throttle, you can induce a bit of oversteer to your preferance, like Leclerc has

Again, I hope I understood and conveyed this explanation correctly. It's too small amount of throttle to really contribute to rear tyre remperature I think, so I think it's more about driving style (especially when he's comfortable with the car)

This is part of each drivers unique technique, we can't expect they'll explain this to anyone in public

If I may add further :
it also arrests the weight shift diagonally outwards a little bit => keeps the platform as nearly parallel to the floor as possible => allows application of full throttle at the exit of the corner, marginally earlier.
Effectively, it's "throttle steer" as @Vanja explained, and as an added benefit, it's also "flatter steer", the price to be paid (there is no free lunch) is higher tyre temp due to more sliding friction, which 'can' accelerate 'deg' if the tyres are already near the hot end of the temperature window.
This technique provides the greatest benefit, in tracks with point and shoot layout, like Baku and Singapore with almost all corners being 90 degree. However in circuits with lots of 'actual racing corners' like a quick slalom or long radius heavily banked corners - for example Suzuka/Silverstone/Zandvoort - this technique has no benefit in particular, but will have it's detriment of more deg.

[venkyhere]

That just sounds like he should be loosing the car way more often than he does!

Impressive.

which he does, once in a while, doesn't he, compared to the other two in the same 'elite tier' (Max and Lewis).
LeClerc is very clever which track he does this thing in, and in which corners of a track as well. But sometimes muscle memory takes over, and he ends up using this where it's not applicable - that's what happened in the French GP in 2022, where he crashed into the outside of a long radius double right hand corner. So it's not something that other drivers/teams aren't aware of (LeClerc's telemetry is right in front of their eyes) , just that they think it's not worth the risk, or just that they lack the talent to 'modulate' it like LeClerc does.

[Vanja #66]

I been cheering for Charles since 2021 when I started watching F1 again after 7 years hiatus. I love he's driving style.

To be honest, my comment was about the two Max fans who seem to be in disbelief with Leclerc's style

u talking about diufuzer rear keel?

Yes

But Leclerc was quite coy in talking about it, which makes me think there may be more to it (and that could be a sign of more genuine - and less track specific - paced, if true):

I think he just didn't want to reveal any detail about the steering box, I know some drivers have specific preferences for steering geometry, feedback etc, those things are confidential details of their driving styles

[Sevach]

In theory there is a small amount of energy harvesting that you can do while the throttle is open mid-corner. It's a unique opportunity to do it with a driver who drives like this. I wonder if the PU engineers explored this.

Could be great in 2026 on specially.

[Vanja #66]

In theory there is a small amount of energy harvesting that you can do while the throttle is open mid-corner. It's a unique opportunity to do it with a driver who drives like this. I wonder if the PU engineers explored this.

Could be great in 2026 on specially.

I think it would be better to have the MGU deployed in 26 with such a small throttle input, rather than have it harvest. Here in Baku with those slight throttle inputs Leclerc had the engine down to 6500-8000 RPM, that's probably not a very efficient zone for an ICE that targets efficiency at 10.5-11k RPM. It's a different matter in high speed corners though, but it's also far less impactful there I think

[aleks_ader]

u talking about diufuzer rear keel?

Yes

Mmm would make sense such system could be inteer-feeded (or whatever interacion happens and micro and macro scale there) between each side. Thing becomes even more interesting how beamwing interact on whole section. Simmilar concepts were aero meta also during pre 2022 with slim coke bottle shapes and raised gearboxes witch one exposed "starterhole" and roof of difuzers too similar cross interactions.

[Schippke]

So the Ferrari loved the medium tyres in the hands of Charles… but I’m getting Hungry 2022 vibes now being on the hards.

Unless he’s just brining them in THAT gently… and is risking the loss of position…

Amazing from a 6 second lead down to nothing…

[ScuderiaLeo]

We get undercut and lose a 6s lead. Great

No pace on hards...

[JPower]

Sainz has a real chance to enter the fight at this pace. A second faster than Perez on the last lap. He’ll have more tire left than anyone else if he continues at this rate.

[Schippke]

Hoping for a Ferrari 2,3 at this rate… I cannot see Charles getting past now; I reckon his rear tyres are cooked…

[Vinlarr89]

No way Charles is going to get past here even though he’s got more