Let's start by saying that the writer grew up watching many cartoons in the afternoon, especially on channel 6, in Italy. Among these, when we thought about the title, a Pokémon, Psyduck, came to mind. The hilarious duck marked by his special move: the attack of confusion that essentially ended up inflicting damage practically on himself.
With Ferrari we are not at those levels, fortunately, but in some ways we are quite close. After experiencing some very disappointing rounds between Monza, Baku and Singapore, where, by team principal Frédéric Vasseur's own admission, the team was unable to fully exploit the car's potential, it was expected that it would have many difficulties on tracks such as that of Austin and subsequent ones.
Instead, more than surprisingly, also considering the pace he had shown between Friday and Saturday in preparation for the Sprint Race, qualifying returned a very competitive Leclerc and Hamilton, capable of taking third and fifth position in Q3, and then becoming third and fourth at the end of the GP.
Ferrari doesn't know the SF-25 yet
A surprising result that actually surprised even the team members themselves. The drivers' statements at the end of qualifying were alarming: Leclerc said he didn't know exactly what this improvement came from. Obviously Ferrari must be satisfied with the result obtained. It won't be a victory, but having brought Leclerc back to the podium, on a track where it was thought he would have difficulties, remains an important fact, but it must be analyzed in its entirety. In its entirety.
It's important to do a thorough investigation to understand the car when things don't go the way they should, but it's even more important to do so when potentials emerge that you didn't believe they had.
According to our editorial team, the Sprint may have made a great contribution to the final result of the weekend. The SF-25 must operate at a higher ground clearance than would ensure it would highlight its qualities, and over the course of the Sprint, technicians may have realized that they could lower the car a little more’ without incurring possible post-race penalties. The low degradation of the tires may also have contributed, demonstrating the theory that our editorial team has been carrying out for some time (read here, in italian language), to this advantage.
Unfortunately, however, we are always in the field of hypotheses and, what is worse, it is not only we who formulate them. We have reached the end of the year and Ferrari has not yet acquired full knowledge of its SF-25.
Photo: Ferrari
Read in italian language: Austin, Ferrari così sorprendente da sorprendersi da sola
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