2024 Chinese Grand Prix - Race Thread

[Cavallino]

Doubt that would ever happen. He just controls the gap so it's not so large.
We really need someone to push Max from lap 1 to the end and see what they really have.

i don't think we're as far away as this race suggested, but you're right

[aroutis]

I wouldn't underestimate McLaren. They're doing a pretty good job.
We went from challenging Red Bull and judging our pace to how many tenths we were behind Red Bull a few races ago to now defending from McLaren and hoping our race pace carries us past them.
They beat us fair and square today but hopefully Miami will turn in our favour.
I still think our car has more in it than the papayas and hope with our upgrades start to hamper Red Bull again.

It was all to the track temperature, we could not get everything from the tyres because of it.
I would not be worried, in fact next race I expect a totally different story.

[stefa]

It was all to the track temperature, we could not get everything from the tyres because of it.
I would not be worried, in fact next race I expect a totally different story.

I really hope so. If win is still not possible, than strong 2nd and 3rd would be great

[aroutis]

I really hope so. If win is still not possible, than strong 2nd and 3rd would be great

We need to see what happens next race where temperatures should be much higher. I want no rain exactly to have clear conclusions.

Then we can go to Imola and finally we can get those updates and see what happens there.

[PURE PASSION]

As it looks , once again we dont quite understand the car 100%.
This is both good and bad news.
If we finaly would be able to fully undestand the car then we will be able to extract more from the car , even as it is , AND we will be more certain that the upgrades will give us the performance we are looking for.
This is the key for this season.
If we are still can't understand all the aspects of the car we will have ups and downs all year.

[Brembo]

As things are; just pay attention to tires and quick pit stops and our two drivers racing each other will be enough to stay right up to R Bull and even a lucky win.

[Silent Bob]

It was all to the track temperature, we could not get everything from the tyres because of it.
I would not be worried, in fact next race I expect a totally different story.

McLaren are bringing their big update package to Miami so we better hope that it doesn't fix their deficiencies or we may be looking at a repeat of China.
Hopefully the warmer weather allows us to use the tires better and see some performance out of our car especially in qually. I think track position has hurt us the last couple races.

[SilverSpeed]

[Cavallino]

As it looks , once again we dont quite understand the car 100%.
This is both good and bad news.
If we finaly would be able to fully undestand the car then we will be able to extract more from the car , even as it is , AND we will be more certain that the upgrades will give us the performance we are looking for.
This is the key for this season.
If we are still can't understand all the aspects of the car we will have ups and downs all year.

bit of an unfair assessment when you consider the wet/dry sessions, temperatures, new asphault, not being to this track in 5 seasons.

probably more not understanding the track than the car

[Cavallino]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daNqHO6k-50

doesn't sound furious to me, silver

[tifosi1993]

SF24 was very good in high speed corners but lost times in slow speed corners and didn't gain anything on the long straights of China.

I think they messed up the setup after the sprint. Probably opted for more diff on the rear. Which explains the car's good traction and initial acceleration but less top end speed. Which is a strange choice because China isn't a traction limited track, even with the new resurfaced tarmac.

[Cavallino]

SF24 was very good in high speed corners but lost times in slow speed corners and didn't gain anything on the long straights of China.

I think they messed up the setup after the sprint. Probably opted for more diff on the rear. Which explains the car's good traction and initial acceleration but less top end speed. Which is a strange choice because China isn't a traction limited track, even with the new resurfaced tarmac.

it looked awfully slippery

maybe they anticipted more rain?

[Silent Bob]

SF24 was very good in high speed corners but lost times in slow speed corners and didn't gain anything on the long straights of China.

I think they messed up the setup after the sprint. Probably opted for more diff on the rear. Which explains the car's good traction and initial acceleration but less top end speed. Which is a strange choice because China isn't a traction limited track, even with the new resurfaced tarmac.

I think you are right on the messed up set up for the race. Charles said they tried to lean more for race pace so maybe overthought tire deg again and went too conservative.
But I thought gear ratios were set for the season and could only be changed once throughout. Am i misreading what you mean about more diff? They can control the limited slip diff to increase traction to each wheel for corners etc, they use diff maps for that, but I don't think that would affect top speed. Changing gear ratios would, but is that allowed?

I think Ferrari needs to find a few more points of downforce from their floor to help their traction and tire heating issues. They've pretty much only used the one wing spec so far and it' a med to high DF spec, so bolting on a higher DF rear wing will only kill our top speed. I think they are looking for a better floor and will then probably introduce a lower loaded rear wing.

[tifosi1993]

I think you are right on the messed up set up for the race. Charles said they tried to lean more for race pace so maybe overthought tire deg again and went too conservative.
But I thought gear ratios were set for the season and could only be changed once throughout. Am i misreading what you mean about more diff? They can control the limited slip diff to increase traction to each wheel for corners etc, they use diff maps for that, but I don't think that would affect top speed. Changing gear ratios would, but is that allowed?

I think Ferrari needs to find a few more points of downforce from their floor to help their traction and tire heating issues. They've pretty much only used the one wing spec so far and it' a med to high DF spec, so bolting on a higher DF rear wing will only kill our top speed. I think they are looking for a better floor and will then probably introduce a lower loaded rear wing.

I think China was rear limited at the beginning due to its new resurfaced tarmac and being green. But with more running and more rubbers got laid down, the track became front limited, as China has always been front-limited.

As you know, there are three types of differentias in F1. Differential is resposnbile for torque distribution, and I think Ferrari engineers made mistake by tuning the differential more to the rear, believing the track would stay rear limited for the race as well. Which improved traction and intial acceleration and they put more downforce on the rear to make it manageble.

But when the track shifted to front limited, the SF24 struggled. That is why it was slow in the first two sectors, which are heavily front limited, and didn't gain anything on the straights due to carrying more downforce. It is quite telling that we even lost our to the Mclarens on the straights.