Christian Danner, former Formula 1 driver and now expert at the television channel RTL, analyzed the results of the Japanese Grand Prix and paid special attention to Ferrari’s progress.
Christian Danner: “Ferrari has taken a huge step forward. You need to keep in mind that racers are generally terrible people – after all, they want tire wear to be minimal and the tires to warm up literally instantly, but this is not so easy.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz suffered serious tire problems last year, and this was high on the list of issues to be resolved by 2024. It was also necessary to understand racing tactics and pit stops.
But now I have to say I take my hat off to Ferrari! In Maranello they managed to solve almost all these problems, and now they are doing well tactically. Moreover, these are the same people for whom things often went wrong during the races a year ago.
Ferrari’s car has become more efficient in every respect, including aerodynamics. But we also have to talk about aspects such as kinematics, the work of the chassis, and now the behavior of the SF-24 has become exactly what the racers need.
Regarding the upcoming Chinese Grand Prix, first of all I expect that the renovated track surface will be very slippery and will not provide normal grip. Until the surface is covered with a layer of waste rubber, the racers will have a very difficult time.
The route will also be slippery because there are relatively many industrial companies nearby, so along with the rain, all the harmful substances they emit into the atmosphere will also fall on the asphalt.
On Friday there will be a lot of talk about the condition of the asphalt surface, this will be one of the most discussed topics, and not only racers, but also engineers will talk about it. It will be unclear to all of them how to tune the cars to achieve predictable tire behavior. There will inevitably be additional difficulties associated with this.
Because the weekend program includes a sprint, the situation becomes even more complicated, because there is only one training session on Friday, after which qualifying takes place immediately. All this promises some surprises.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
