Honestly I think H-M would be suicidal here. If they can't clear Alonso & Co in the first stint, they stand no chance of getting in the fight at the front. Thus they should start on the mediums or even softs. Probably an aggressive M-H is the way to go or a S-M-H if they want to bet on some good old turn 1 carnage resulting in a red flag.
So tyres cooled down in the pits, Leclerc prepped them as well as he could on the coldest track has been so far and went wide in T2. Vasseur saying tyres were ok at the start of the lap does not contradict this. Leclerc made a small mistake, but it was his mistake. The rest of the lap was not particularly good either and only worth P7, Q2 lap was 4 tenths quicker so the car once again suffered on a cold track. Nothing new, we know we can expect this and it always coincides with Mercedes perfroming better than the pace they really have.ScuderiaLeo wrote: ↑21 Sep 2024, 16:54Leclerc interview:
Vasseur interview:The tires weren't ready at all, not even halfway ready. I left the pits and they were at minus... I don't even know how many degrees, 10 or 12 degrees, at the front. I don't know why. This was the only time it happened, and it was our only shot. I did my best to put them in the right temperature during the out lap, but it was hopeless. I arrived at T1 and knew it was bad. I went wide, and I knew it was going to be disastrous. I'm really disappointed because we did everything possible to make it to Q3 strong, and then we have this random issue. All I can say is that I'm disappointed. We had the potential for a 1-2 if we took risks in Q3, but we couldn't even do that because the tires weren't ready.
I don't want to talk about the race yet. For now, I'm too upset. We know how important qualifying is for this track, so the chance of winning is almost zero. I don't know what can be done from P9. We had the potential for much more and we wasted it. I'll reset and come back 100% tomorrow like usual, but for now, I'm disappointed. Maybe we can finish P5 or P6... P3, if there's a miracle.
So... the drivers and teams are giving opposite opinions on what happened...Charles went too wide at T2 so we were hit with track limits. And since we only had one shot in Q3 due to the red flag, as a result, we ended with no time. That's both cars without a time in Q3. It's a shame since we had pace before. Now, we just need to prepare for tomorrow. We've always had a better race pace than qualifying this year. It's not easy to overtake, but there are opportunities when it comes to strategy.
About Charles and the red flag, both driver error and tire temperature issues are possible. Conditions are difficult here, FP3 the track was hot, in qualifying it was cold. You can see the struggle with temperatures with everybody after the red flag. I think it was a succession of small mistakes. For Charles, he started the lap with the right temperature, so I need to talk to him about it.
[Edit] From a different interview from Vasseur:
Maybe we waited too long, we didn't want to be the first on track but this caused us to wait a bit in the pit lane. We were going for pole, so we waited as long as possible. We need to properly look at what happened with Charles' tires. Maybe it was a blanket issue, maybe the waiting, maybe something else.
Lando and Max needs to pit for new front wings after they collide in T1, Hamilton don't have the pace, Russel will bin it, Piastri will burn his tyres up in the middle of the first stint.edu2703 wrote: ↑21 Sep 2024, 17:28In normal racing circumstances, P6 is the best we can achieve tomorrow. But I can already foresee the pain of being several laps behind a slower car because it's not possible to overtake on this track.
We can only finish higher than P6 with a lot of luck, which we didn't have today.
So many issues in his garage are not a coincidence. Either he's the unluckiest driver out there or someone keeps sabotaging his car and garage equipment. All I rememeber on Sainz' side is a trully unfortunate fuel line leak in Qatar that couldn't be noticed before topping off the car for the race“I think today we were on it, in quali at least,” he said. “In FP3 we struggled a little bit, but it was warmer and we knew that we would maybe struggle a little bit with the set-up we had taken. But equally, we were confident that in quali it would come back, and it did.
“The 29.7 was quite a good lap in Q2, and in Q3 we just had to put a lap on the board but we never did so.”
Good enough for 3rd on the grid if Charles repeated his time, and he was very cautious in the final corner.FittingMechanics wrote: ↑21 Sep 2024, 17:42Ferrari laps in Q2 were not good either, I don't think they had pace for top 6.
Strange as they had good pace yesterday.
I was wrong in my comments before, doesn't sound like Leclerc could do anything. Can't remember reading such heated comments from him recently“ We came out of the pits and we didn't understand why there were 10 or 12 degrees of temperature missing on the fronts and there was no response – added Leclerc – So it's impressive, in Q3, when it's time to do the lap, we know how sensitive it is with the tires, sometimes it's 1-2 degrees and it's the catastrophe. Today it was 12 degrees lower and we don't know why ."
“ It's not like in Canada, no. Today we had the potential to go first or second . Had we found our way again compared to FP3? Yes, we just had to take more risks in Q3, which I couldn't take because the tires were cold! “.
“ What can we do in the race? I'm very disappointed, so I prefer not to talk about tomorrow. Disappointment is high today. In Singapore, qualifying is everything and therefore the hopes of going on to win are few . Let's see, tomorrow I will have done a reset, I will be back to 100%, but today I am really disappointed ."
-It was a mix of factors. I had to let some cars pass in the third sector, which cooled the tires a lot, and I had to drive on the dirty side to let them through. Since it was a Q3 lap, I wanted a good exit from the last corner, but I was already slow compared to Q1 and Q2. I tried to accelerate earlier to make up for lost time, otherwise I’d have lost a tenth on the first straight before even starting the lap.
This weekend has been tough. It’s strange how things can change from one year to the next, but as we’ve seen, getting the tires into the right window with our car is tricky. I managed a few good laps, but overall, it’s been inconsistent. Brake issues yesterday didn’t help with preparation. It’s about building confidence and doing perfect laps from FP1 to Q3, and I struggled with that. I couldn’t find rhythm yesterday, and today it was hard to get the tires and brakes working together.
I hope tomorrow’s race will be normal, like Baku, and then we can show good pace. Once we find the rhythm, everything should go smoothly. It takes more than one lap to get everything working with the tires, and the mistake I made was unusual. There's a fine line between making them stick and not. That’s what happened this weekend, but once I find my rhythm, we’ll be competitive.
I don’t usually read too much into Fridays because we don’t know what the others are doing. In FP3, Norris gained a second compared to FP2, which suggests they were hiding something. In Q3, they were only a tenth faster than FP3, which is strange. Something odd is going on, likely with tire preparation, because it's unusual for the gap between FP3 and Q3 to be so small.
I misjudged the lack of grip with cold tires at Turn 17, where there’s a bump that often catches you out. I made a mistake, and I apologize to the team. It’s been a tough weekend. The car will go to the mechanics for analysis to see if anything needs changing and if we’ll face a penalty. It was an unexpected accident, one I’ve never experienced before in my career. It’s unfortunate, but it’s racing, and tomorrow we’ll try to bounce back.
Leclerc mentioned the fact the team had no response for him in multiple interviews, I have a feeling this really pissed him off. Maybe he feels like the team isn't taking accountability.
They should start on medium or even soft... Track will still improve and either the leader will slow down the pack (i.e 2019 or 2023) and then they will protect these tyres at this pace, or the field will be spread allowing them to pit without losing too many track positionbananapeel23 wrote: ↑21 Sep 2024, 17:37Honestly I think H-M would be suicidal here. If they can't clear Alonso & Co in the first stint, they stand no chance of getting in the fight at the front. Thus they should start on the mediums or even softs. Probably an aggressive M-H is the way to go or a S-M-H if they want to bet on some good old turn 1 carnage resulting in a red flag.
The problem I see with starting on softs is that you are almost forcing yourself into a 2-stopper. It’s not worth it to jump Alonzo. If you get an early Red Flag, everyone is switching, if it comes after lap 15 or so, you lose out. M-H theres no advantage. Everyone will be on that. The only gamble i see is starting on hards, going long and hoping theres a SC or Red flag AFTER the front runners have pitted.bananapeel23 wrote: ↑21 Sep 2024, 17:37Honestly I think H-M would be suicidal here. If they can't clear Alonso & Co in the first stint, they stand no chance of getting in the fight at the front. Thus they should start on the mediums or even softs. Probably an aggressive M-H is the way to go or a S-M-H if they want to bet on some good old turn 1 carnage resulting in a red flag.
Singapore brings some of the most unpredictable races of them all. I don't expect Ferrari to trouble the leaders, but it's far from an impossibility depending on how the race plays out. If they manage to clear Alonso, Hulk and Tsunoda early they could very well be in the mix. Alternatively if a safety car or red flag comes out early, they could trouble them as well. If a safety car comes out after they clear the slower cars, the win is very much a possibility.Xyz22 wrote: ↑21 Sep 2024, 19:04The race is over. No strategy can save it, unless you go for hards and the SC goes out in the perfect moment (which is extremely unlikely and only down to luck). Also, they will be behind the slowest drivers of the top 10: Alonso and Hulkenberg who will block all the others.
The execution of this quali session was some of the worst i've ever seen in my lifetime. The preparation for Leclerc Q3 lap was awful.
Tyres were out of the window on a regular basis, Sainz was nowhere who is usually very fast in this track and so on.
Overtaking is close to impossible unless you have a 2s delta, i.e. new soft tyres vs 20 laps old medium.bananapeel23 wrote: ↑21 Sep 2024, 19:52Singapore brings some of the most unpredictable races of them all. I don't expect Ferrari to trouble the leaders, but it's far from an impossibility depending on how the race plays out. If they manage to clear Alonso, Hulk and Tsunoda early they could very well be in the mix. Alternatively if a safety car or red flag comes out early, they could trouble them as well. If a safety car comes out after they clear the slower cars, the win is very much a possibility.Xyz22 wrote: ↑21 Sep 2024, 19:04The race is over. No strategy can save it, unless you go for hards and the SC goes out in the perfect moment (which is extremely unlikely and only down to luck). Also, they will be behind the slowest drivers of the top 10: Alonso and Hulkenberg who will block all the others.
The execution of this quali session was some of the worst i've ever seen in my lifetime. The preparation for Leclerc Q3 lap was awful.
Tyres were out of the window on a regular basis, Sainz was nowhere who is usually very fast in this track and so on.
Sainz messed up himself and team messed up Leclerc. It happened regularly 2 years ago and ocassionaly last year, there were far worse Q3 sessions in several seasons in the last 10 years.
Exactly, they need to save Softs for the final stint and see what simulations say on how best to reach it. I wouldn't risk with Hards, they could be tricky to heat up with a slow and heavy car in a night race. Mediums on a moderate pace (2-3s behind slower cars the whole time) should easily last well over half a race and Softs can also be managed to last at least 20 laps, like Leclerc did even last yearcodetower wrote: ↑21 Sep 2024, 19:44The problem I see with starting on softs is that you are almost forcing yourself into a 2-stopper. It’s not worth it to jump Alonzo. If you get an early Red Flag, everyone is switching, if it comes after lap 15 or so, you lose out. M-H theres no advantage. Everyone will be on that. The only gamble i see is starting on hards, going long and hoping theres a SC or Red flag AFTER the front runners have pitted.
