Imola teaches Championships lessons

Rain poured all weekend in Imola, rain poured all on Ferrari.

The Scuderia surely anticipated with greater excitement this weekend “back home” at Imola after a great start of the season. There was also the Sprint format in it, a 100 KM race that in its functions serves as qualify for the Sunday race, and starting this season, distributes important points to the first 8 positions.

The race doesn’t bring much commentary, Imola was a wet/semi dry track all weekend, where not much spectacle was left from drivers needing to mount Medium tires, with high risk of slipping away if they would go off trajectory. Verstappen dominated the race, Perez kept Leclerc at distance, while Mercedes continue struggling with the car’s aerodynamics. Positive note for McLaren, that after a very tough start in Bahrain, had Norris coming back to podium and Ricciardo at points.

Imola:Red Colors, Dark Notes

Charles Leclerc is probably reflecting that Imola was a tough lesson for him and the team. Ferrari coming back home after an extraordinary streak of three podiums in three races, wanted to rejoice in the home-track Enzo and Dino Ferrari Autodromo with their home fans, but the party did not end up well. Formula 1 and sports are like this: between being competitive and winning there are many complexities.

We could talk about the F1-75 and Ferrari re-dimensioned by Imola, but there is so much more. This race was about weather unpredictability, tires consumption, drivers’ performances.

Leclerc saw his #16 blistering tires on Saturday at the very last laps, favoring the return of Max Verstappen and the overtake at the final lap. Sunday, on a wetter track, Leclerc did not have a good start with more adverse track condition. Other drivers also had better start than the two Ferrari.

Very dark note is Carlos Sainz, with a horrific qualify on Friday, recovers Saturday in Sprint Race, to then getting pushed away by Ricciardo at first lap. The Spaniard once more is too frenetic in getting back in top positions, instead of being tactical and strategic – qualities that distinguished the 55 during the past season.

Imola Lesson #1: Understand your dimension

The track is an old layout, which historically privileges the power of the engines, and Red Bull just showed that.

Mattia Binotto will have to leverage the potential of the car, and foresee possible difficulties the car could encounter in “old layout tracks”, but most specifically the so-called Power Tracks, where Ferrari can struggle against rivals, since the nature to favor teams with powerful engines. Red Bull have the fastest car. Verstappen has more speed than Leclerc.

In understanding the favorability of a track, the team needs to ensure to minimize the loss, while acknowledging Red Bull having greater chances in the race and working a strategy that limits the points given away for the championship.

Ferrari is not too far. The F1-75 demonstrated superior aerodynamics and stability, especially in highly technical tracks, including the two newest of Bahrain and Jeddah. The car moves faster, but when it comes to push the engine to max speed, lags behind Red Bull (and maybe Mclaren…).

This lesson is mostly for Ferrari ensure they can stay in the constructor competition.

Lesson #2: Points Margin > Greed

The championship is a longer journey than one grand prix. Losing points from poor strategy and race approach, can cost over the long run. Matter of facts, Ferrari paid the heavy cost of trying to steal the fastest lap point by pitting for soft tires, and that costed Leclerc losing third position. Leclerc called it a greedy action.

Greed plays always bad tricks to ambitious and talented people. It is important to understand how to keep the points margin and project it over the races. Especially after the first three races, Ferrari have been building an impressive gap with other teams, if this gap is managed properly throughout the championship, it can pay big dividends.

Lesson #3: Establish the role of the drivers

Carlos Sainz had another unfortunate race that costed him and Ferrari another zero. Ferrari have in Leclerc an extreme talent and that raw talent that makes him naturally a title contender. Sainz, not quite. He is an immense driver, but more than Michael Schumacher, Sainz reminds of Barrichello. Just like Red Bull have a very well-established role of leader and second driver, Ferrari should make that clear.

Not easy, last season at the end of the day, Sainz finished with more points than Leclerc. Leclerc is few races away from reaching top maturity, his talent is there, but we can’t say is topped.

What we noticed from the last few races is Sainz trying to push to keep up with Leclerc. In addition, he demonstrates he can be a front runner for Ferrari. One could say that two failed attempts are enough to take a decision.

Lesson 4: It is not over yet

The championship wasn’t over after Leclerc winning in Australia. The championship is not over after Red Bull getting the most points out of the race. This race was a great prize one, since Red Bull got also the most from the Sprint, the new format of 100 KM qualify race introduced successfully by FIA last season.

The hope is that this race serves as a great lesson for Ferrari. It is not over yet, the competition is long, but Red Bull is after Ferrari.