F1 Tech | McLaren set to dominate the Sprint, Verstappen to struggle
McLaren is set to dominate the Sprint after the team's Sprint Qualifying performance, while Verstappen and Mercedes should suffer.
The first day of action at the Qatar Grand Prix showed a strong McLaren, who were able to dominate the Sprint Qualifying session thanks to the MCL39’s ability to generate downforce from the Venturi channels and keep tyre temperatures under control throughout the lap.
Russell was the only driver who could slip between the two papaya cars thanks to a perfect last lap on the soft tyres in SQ3. Verstappen finished only sixth due to a wrong set-up choice, which compromised his performance. Ferrari struggled once again with Hamilton out in SQ1 and Leclerc only ninth. What happened on Friday? Let's have a look!
McLaren makes the difference on the soft tyre
Starting with McLaren, the Woking-based team demonstrated to be very quick on a track that was expected to suit the MCL39, — though not without struggles: during FP1, in fact, both drivers complained of a car that was too ‘on the nose’, as the rear end was sliding at the exit of all medium speed corners, where traction was needed, like Turns 6 and 7.
For this reason, the team made a series of specific changes on both cars: they changed the front ride height and the front and rear anti-torsion bars on both cars to try and mitigate this behaviour, which seemed to have more of a mechanical reason than an aerodynamic one.
The changes seemed to produce a positive step forward: midway through the session, in fact, both Norris and Piastri went out to make some long run simulations, which demonstrated the MCL39’s ability to manage the tyre wear and temperature like no other car on the grid, with an excellent pace despite the very few laps completed.
Once soft tyres were fitted on both cars, the gap between competitors and the two papaya cars expanded: after completing two fast laps on the softs, Piastri was ahead of third-placed Alonso in P3 by 0.386 seconds, proof of a phenomenal superiority both in terms of downforce generation and tyre temperature management.
For this weekend, in fact, they made the same rear wing choice as they did in Barcelona: a medium-downforce rear wing, characterised by a central spoon, was adopted on both cars, and this solution was matched with a double-element beam wing.
This specification particularly suits well these kinds of high-speed tracks, as the main stressed tyre is the front left. By adopting such an unloaded rear-end, the balance of the car inevitably shifts towards the front end, making the car more precise at high speeds and better able to look after the tyres in the long run.
However, Norris didn’t seem to like such a pointy car, as he made plenty of mistakes both during FP1 and also during his first lap in SQ3, where he lost the pole position to his team mate Piastri. For the championship leader, it’ll be fundamental to use the Sprint to lose as few points as possible to Piastri, while still gaining information on how to change the set-up for the main qualifying and the race.
Mercedes helped by Russell's penohemnal qualifying
As for Mercedes, they had a very difficult FP1 and Sprint Qualifying, but as always, Russell managed to get everything together during his final lap in SQ3 and get a highly unexpected P2, finishing just a few thousandths behind Piastri in P1.
The W16, in fact, usually doesn’t like high-speed corners and hot temperatures, and that’s why both drivers struggled a lot with the balance of the car during the first session.
The team adopted quite an unloaded rear wing on their car, in a very similar way to what McLaren did, to have a better front end at high speeds and better preserve the tyres in the race distance. This choice, however, didn’t seem to pay off, as the W16 seemed very nervous, with both Antonelli and Russell aborting many of their fast laps because of snaps from the rear-end.
The scenario didn’t improve once the soft tyres were fitted on both cars, as Antonelli could only manage P10 with Russell down in 14th. The conditions and the soft compound, which tends to overheat quite quickly in the first two sectors, prevented the car from entering its perfect operating window, where it’s able to express its real potential.
The situation didn’t seem to improve during the Sprint Qualifying either: in SQ2, Antonelli couldn’t get into the top 10 with his lap, but he went through thanks to Isack Hadjar's time being deleted by the stewards. On the soft tyres, Russell managed to complete a phenomenal lap, proving his quality over the single lap. The rookie was only able to set the seventh fastest time in SQ3.
Mercedes will probably use the Sprint as a test to understand how much tyre wear and degradation impact their performance, to then make adjustments to the set-up before qualifying.
Red Bull and Ferrari struggle
Moving now on to Red Bull, they had a very difficult first day on a track that should have suited the RB21 quite well: Verstappen complained of the car’s balance all day long, while Tsunoda demonstrated to be much quicker than what had been seen up until now, proof that he found a good set-up.
Already during FP1, in fact, Verstappen complained that the RB21 was too much ‘on the nose,’ and that was jumping a lot in the medium-speed corners, like Turns 6 and 7.
This behaviour could be related to the mechanical set-up chosen for the session: to maximise the car’s performance in the high-speed corners, the team may have chosen to run a stiff mechanical set-up laterally, to make the car as stable as possible through corners like Turns 12, 13, 14, and 15.
However, choosing to run such a stiff and pointy set-up caused some issues in the medium-speed corners, where Verstappen lost the majority of his time to the two McLarens.
Despite feeling these problems already during the first session, the team couldn’t find a concrete solution before the Sprint Qualifying. As a result, the Dutchman kept complaining of bouncing and of rear instability also through qualifying, particularly once the soft tyres were fitted on his RB21 during the SQ3.
These issues aren’t related to a specific floor spec, as Verstappen kept using the same version adopted until Austin, while Tsunoda used the new version introduced for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The problem seemed to be caused by an excessively low ride height and a reactive front end, which made Verstappen feel uncomfortable in some portions of the circuit.
For Red Bull Racing, it’ll be crucial to use the Sprint to gather data and try to understand why the set-up chosen didn’t work as expected, to then improve before qualifying and possibly fight against the two McLarens on equal terms both for pole position and for the victory during Sunday’s race.
Last but not least, Ferrari had a first day to forget on the Lusail International Circuit: the SF-25 looked extremely unbalanced all day, with a set-up that was too much shifted on the front end, causing a huge amount of snaps for both drivers already during FP1.
The team tried to mitigate this behaviour on Hamilton’s car for the Sprint Qualifying, adopting a medium-high-downforce rear wing for the event, hoping to better balance the front end and allow the SF-25 to enter its optimal operating window. This countermeasure didn’t work, with the Briton out in SQ1 in P18.
On the other side of the garage, Leclerc didn’t feel very comfortable, as he couldn’t do better than ninth, proving that the SF-25 was not only terrible to drive, but also didn’t have the potential to fight against Aston Martin and Williams for the second and third rows on the grid.
In conclusion, the weekend began with a dominant McLaren, and it’ll be extremely interesting to see if Red Bull and other top teams will be able to improve their set-ups before qualifying to try to fight Norris and Piastri.
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