He does, but he doesn't need to save those units as much as Leclerc, having one more in the pool
Check out race sim laps, the difference is always there and even bigger at timesscuderiabrandon wrote: ↑22 Nov 2024, 10:20Sainz had a pretty hefty tow into turn 14 on his fast lap. 2 tenths gained.
Leclerc did not improve in S2 and S3, though, compared to his run on Mediums. So I would think main issues were (soft) tires.scuderiabrandon wrote: ↑22 Nov 2024, 10:20Sainz had a pretty hefty tow into turn 14 on his fast lap. 2 tenths gained.Vanja #66 wrote: ↑22 Nov 2024, 10:04Having the new engine, Sainz is able to run his PU on higher levels in both sessions. On soft laps, Leclerc lost at least 2.5 tenths to Sainz on straights (making both laps pretty much the same basically) while on the race sim laps on Mediums Leclerc typically lost 3-5 tenths from lap to lap, but every lap. I don't think any driver showed their full PU potential yet.
Both, obviously, losing time to Merc in corners, unable to get the tyres in the window for now. This will continue to be an issue all the way into Q3, though the track always comes to those running the least amount of aero, especially street tracks
https://ibb.co/hVL8Q32
I made an observation.search wrote: ↑22 Nov 2024, 10:54Leclerc did not improve in S2 and S3, though, compared to his run on Mediums. So I would think main issues were (soft) tires.scuderiabrandon wrote: ↑22 Nov 2024, 10:20Sainz had a pretty hefty tow into turn 14 on his fast lap. 2 tenths gained.Vanja #66 wrote: ↑22 Nov 2024, 10:04Having the new engine, Sainz is able to run his PU on higher levels in both sessions. On soft laps, Leclerc lost at least 2.5 tenths to Sainz on straights (making both laps pretty much the same basically) while on the race sim laps on Mediums Leclerc typically lost 3-5 tenths from lap to lap, but every lap. I don't think any driver showed their full PU potential yet.
Both, obviously, losing time to Merc in corners, unable to get the tyres in the window for now. This will continue to be an issue all the way into Q3, though the track always comes to those running the least amount of aero, especially street tracks
https://ibb.co/hVL8Q32
If Sainz gained 2 tenths due to a tow, that makes thinks actually worse.
LeclercThose first laps in FP1 were the lowest grip I think since Turkey 2020, where we had those crazy low grip conditions. Through the day the track ramped up and picked up some grip.
But with that also, the temperature came down as we got more into the night and then everything seemed a bit more complicated. I think everyone's in the same boat; it's a very fine line between having the tyres ready, and not ready in sector one. And from then on, it can snowball into a very good lap or a very bad lap. So yeah, it is a different track.
I think we're in the mix. Mercedes has been very strong all day, Lando and McLaren also. Maybe we are not performing as strong as everyone was thinking we were going to perform. We have some homework tonight to maybe try and find some lap time, especially coming from qualifying. The race, we seem to be okay once everything gets up to temperature, but over one lap, we seem to still have some work to do.
It went as expected. We are struggling a bit with the tyres because of the very low temperature. Mercedes seems very strong, but we have seen throughout the season that they are more aggressive with the tyres, which in these conditions is an advantage. We need to try to find something to change the situation, but we are not that far away yet.
We have seen that the long-run pace is good, and it is a bit the story of this season, we suffer more in qualifying but we are better in the race. Better this way than the opposite. I hope that overtaking in the race will be as easy as last year, but in the end I remain confident. Today on the fastest lap we would be behind the two Mercedes and probably also the two McLarens, but let's wait until tomorrow.
There is work to do and we have everything to do it in the right direction, but I repeat, the priority remains race pace.
— During the constructors’ press conference in Las Vegas, Wolff and Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur joked about the situation, with Wolff noting:
“Fred didn’t ask. I think it’s a difference, also if you’re maybe going to Williams, but we have contractual agreements with sponsors, we’re having a farewell for Lewis, we’re having lots of activities that are planned.”
— Wolff added:
“He and I, we spoke about it shortly and he said, ‘I guess that’s not going to work.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to work.’ And that was the whole thing. So I don’t think Fred is particularly sad.”
— Vasseur confirmed he was not disappointed, emphasizing the contractual situation:
“No, but there is a contract. There is a contract. I have to respect this, that it’s not because we are doing something for Carlos that everybody has to do the same. As Toto said, I didn’t ask Toto.”
The problem is that the lap time is not coming easy whatsoever. They are struggling in the braking zones. More often than not, they lock up or go wide in 12 or 14. Braking inconsistency is a massive confidence killer.f1316 wrote: ↑22 Nov 2024, 17:49Fairly certain Leclerc bailed out of his first lap on softs and then his second lap was slower in almost the entire first half of the lap but still ended up an improvement - so there’s plenty of time there. We need to hope they maximise the tyre prep and ensure at least row two, because then in the race they can attack.
It's impossible without amazing luck.
