Max Verstappen was utterly dominant at the Chinese GP. Once again, the Dutchman was his own biggest rival. Two safety cars halfway through the race limited the gaps to Verstappen at the chequered flag. Norris finished 13 seconds behind first place when it should have been 30. Still, his McLaren went beyond expectations – thanks to particular track conditions and temperatures. Unlike in the Sprint Race, Norris was comfortably faster than the Ferrari duo.
Sergio Perez lost some time with Leclerc’s Ferrari in the last stint. Despite the podium, Perez was one of the losers of the day. Even whilst completing the same stints on the Hards, he was unable to worry McLaren.
The difference between Max and the podium finishers was clear. Verstappen gets significantly better exits than any of his rivals. The biggest difference to his teammate was in turns 2, 3 and after turn 11. Norris also lost 7-8 tenths in the same corners. When Parc fermé reopened after Saturday’s Spring, Verstappen and Norris made positive adjustments.
Ferrari did not maximize the SF-24 package, as Vasseur admitted, speaking coldly after the race.
The two Ferrari cars did not execute the cleanest weekend of the year. They cost each other time by battling in lap one. But the real problem was that Ferrari’s expected performance never arrived.
On Saturday, the technicians took a sub-optimal set-up direction, which didn’t pay off on the hard tyres. Leclerc was a little faster than Sainz all weekend, but the Monegasque was still far from the podium – let alone Verstappen.
Both drivers spent a total of 20 laps trying to put heat into their tyres. Once they succeeded, the compounds were well past their peak in performance.
The data shows that Leclerc suffered less than Sainz in the third sector. His loss in performance was actually 0.090 thousandths/lap better than Red Bull, indicating a lot of potential was untapped.
Maranello’s drivers struggled for much of the race, whilst Alonso bunched the field by taking second position from Perez in the early stages. Still, the Spaniard had neither the pace nor the tyres available to be a serious podium contender.
Ferrari couldn’t totally take advantage of the SC (good for Leclerc). The SF-24 was 9-tenths slower than Verstappen – double the average gap seen in the first four races. Hulkenberg’s early overtake on Leclerc is emblematic of the team’s failure to switch on the tyres.
“We don’t have an excuse. The unknowns were the same for everyone. No one came to test here before us. So we have to review what we could have done better,” reflected a candid Fred Vasseur
Mercedes continues to perform poorly, although Hamilton was at least able to recover some positions. Russell was never too far away from Sainz but lacked the pace to bother him.
Toto Wolff’s team is running on fumes and will introduce an update in Miami to try something different, as will McLaren.
Despite everything, Ferrari has no plans to upset the established plan. There may be a small update in Florida, but the floor/sidepod package is still scheduled for Imola.
Leclerc and Sainz are not worried ahead of Miami. Still, some of the SF-24’s limitations in certain conditions are clear.
Behind the big names, Alonso didn’t have great options to get more points, but he used his usual class. Behind the five top teams, Nico Hulkenberg claimed the only available point. Further back, Alpine has not fully emerged from the quicksand. However, the Chinese GP offered a sign of hope as Ocon fought for points.
“The update did exactly what we hoped for. I thank the people at the factory for having anticipated it as much as possible,” said Bruno Famin.
