F1 Tech | Free Practice analysis: McLaren on fire, big surprise from Aston Martin
The first day of action at the magnificent Zandvoort Circuit offered an expected result, with McLaren leading both practice sessions, demonstrating their superiority on a track that well suited the MCL39. The big surprise of the day was clearly Aston Martin, that managed to really outperform other top teams in FP1 and FP2, demonstrating the solid step forward made during the last few weekends. The other top teams were a little behind, but the variable conditions expected for the weekend could mix things up. Let’s try to understand why.
Starting to analyse McLaren’s performance, they had a very positive first day, keeping the positive momentum that started back at the Austrian Grand Prix. Lando Norris managed to top both practice sessions, demonstrating his MCL39’s great balance both in the qualifying simulations and in the race pace sims.
For this weekend, the team decided to re-introduce a medium-high downforce rear wing spec that was already tested during FP1 in Barcelona by Oscar Piastri. This specific rear wing is characterised by a different design of the mainplane and the endplate connection: as shown in the picture below, the mainplane has a very "boxy" shape, with a more loaded central section and a more unloaded lateral portion.
The central portion is characterised by a flatter entry profile, designed to maximise the downforce generated in this section (green arrow), while the airfoil has a much more inclined shape and a much reduced chord at the endplate connection (blue arrow), to reduce drag and improve top speed.
Last but not least, as highlighted by the yellow arrow, the DRS flap tip has a more pointed shape and protrudes in the lower portion, to better manage vortex generation in a critical area.
This rear wing design mainly aims at generating a lot of downforce from the central portion of the mainplane, while still having a good top speed both when the DRS is closed and when the system is activated.
This component was matched with a double element beam wing, the maximum downforce version already used last time out in Hungary. The goal is to produce a good amount of downforce from the whole rear complex (rear wing, diffuser and beam wing), without neglecting the top speed, particularly important around Zandvoort to allow overtakes.
These technical choices, together with a good set-up base, made the MCL39 extremely competitive since FP1: thanks to good level of downforce generated by the Venturi channels and the bodywork, the car could express a very strong performance through all those medium downforce and high speed corners of the circuit, like turn 1, 3, and the whole complex from turn 7 to the exit of turn 10.
Not by accident, in fact, Norris and Piastri were gaining precious time in those areas during the qualifying simulations compared to their rivals. Moreover, the new rear wing contributed in giving that additional top speed on the main straight, making the MCL39 even more competitive in the third sector.
The effects were positive, as Norris was able to get top spot in both sessions, with Piastri P3 during FP2 only 89 thousands of second behind his teammate. The pace was also phenomenal in the race pace sims, as Norris’s simulation was average almost four-tenths faster than his teammate. The pace shown today saw a complete McLaren dominance and also the unpredictable weather conditions won’t affect the car from a performance point of view.
Aston Martin with a strong start of the weekend
Moving on to analyse Aston Martin’s day, it’s right to say that the Silverstone team was the biggest surprise of the day. After the very good performance in Hungary (where Alonso and Stroll managed to finish the race in P5 and P7 respectively), the team arrived at Zandvoort hoping that the updates and the track layout would have helped them in terms of performance. That’s exactly what happened, with Stroll taking P3 in FP1 and Alonso P2 in FP2, showing off a very strong potential both in the qualifying simulations and in the long runs.
After the new front wing has been introduced last time out at Hungaroring, the AMR25 has demonstrated to be much more balanced and quicker in the medium/slow speed long corners, which was exactly where it was slower than competitors during the first half of the season. This new component, moreover, proved to work very well with the floor introduced in Imola, which guaranteed a very solid and stable platform across a wide variety of tracks, despite not guaranteeing a very high level of peak downforce.
These technical choices, together with a very strong base set-up, made the AMR25 extremely well balanced and easily drivable for the drivers since the first few laps during first practice, proving that with the new simulator and the new tools allow engineers to simulate the real track in a correct way. As sometimes happens on Friday, Aston Martin could have probably played a little with engine modes during FP2, resulting in closer gaps to the two McLaren, but the good pace shown by Alonso in race pace sims proves that the team have defiantly made a step forward in the last few races, hoping to get P5 to Williams in the Constructors’ Championship.
Red Bull and Mercedes with a 'decent' performance
For what concerns Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, both teams had a very double sided day. Starting from Mercedes, they managed to find a decent base set-up especially on Russell’s side, while Kimi made a costly mistake in FP1 which made him lose the entire session.
Despite the initial worries, the W16 seems to digest the track quite well, at least on qualifying simulations: the additional grip provided by the soft tyre, together with the very low ride height chosen, allowed Russell to end FP2 in P4, just behind the two McLaren and Alonso, despite a gap of almost three and a half tenths to the leader.
The W16, in fact, massively suffers the second sector (from turn 7 to turn 10) both during the single lap pace and during the long runs: the long high speed and medium speed corners, in fact, put a lot of stress on front and rear tyres, causing temperatures to go up. As a consequence, tyres overheat and they lose grip in traction, slowing the car down, as it was already visible on many occasions this season, like Austria and Miami.
This particular issue also slowed Mercedes down during the race pace sims, as tyres started to get hot and slide after a few laps, making Russell slower of almost 3 tenths (average) compared to Norris, despite using the more solid and robust C2 hard tyres.
For what concerns Red Bull, they had quite a difficult FP1, with Verstappen relegated in P6 despite the slightly updated front wing. As shown in the picture below, the team introduced a revised top flap on the front wing, which had a longer chord, mainly to generate more downforce at medium and high speed (light blue arrows) as well as a small winglet at the nose connection (red arrow). These little changes, however, didn’t help Verstappen too much, who still struggled a lot on the soft tyres.
After FP1 engineers made a series of specific changes to improve the balance of the car, especially from the mechanical point of view. The RB21 was mainly losing time in the first and last sector, characterised by banked corners and medium speed sections. The wok seemed to play dividends: in FP2 Verstappen seemed to have a more stable car, despite still finishing the session in P5, almost 6 tenths behind Norris.
Only a miracle from Red Bull’s engineers will probably put Verstappen back in the fight for the podium, as the RB21 has now reached its peak in terms of development and performance. Rain could help them get a maiden podium on Sunday, but a lot will also depend on the conditions and the starting position decided tomorrow during qualifying.
Ferrari with the worst Friday of the season
Last but not least, Ferrari had the worst Friday since the beginning of the season: the SF-25 lacked grip and stability, with both Leclerc and Hamilton massively complaining about instability especially in three corners: turn 8, 9 and 10, which was exactly where they were losing almost 0.8 tenths of a second compared to Norris.
Due to the level of balance and stability while cornering required in that section, the SF-25’s rear end struggles to make the car rotate smoothly through the corner, sliding and thus losing grip as a consequence. The two spins Hamilton had (one in turn 3 and the other at turn 9) are proof that the 7-time World Champion is still looking for that confidence in the car he’s been mistiming since the beginning of the season.
For Saturday the Scuderia should probably focus on improving the stability of the car through those three corners, without risking to compromise the set-up in terms of ride height, as it could be much penalising not only for qualifying but for Sunday’s race, especially if it’ll be wet.
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