Imola GP - Lando Hungry For First

So I asked you guys what team will win the Imola GP. Here are your votes. Unfortunately, 75% of you were wrong however it wasn’t a breeze for RedBull and Max. Lets talk about it.

Lando got a great start off the line but Max managed to hold the lead into the first corner. The top 5 on the grid all held their positions into the first corner and not much changed for the whole first stint. The The RedBull of Perez managed to gain quite a few places early on putting him in a prime supporting position for Max later on.

Piastri and Sainz were the first cars to really start racing each other in the top 5. Piastri due to his penalty sat in 5th rather than 2nd. He maintain a gap of less than a second for a significant part of the first stint pushing Sainz hard, making him use his tyres up. This hurt Sainz once Piastri pitted as 1) He stayed out too long on high degraded Mediums waiting for a safety car, and 2) Piastri was in the much faster car so once pitted the McLaren undercut was easy.

As Perez started on the Hard compound his 1st stint was far longer than the top runners. This caused a nuisance for every car in the top 8 as they all had to pass the RedBull which at points made it difficult and showed some pace. I feel Perez’ job was to cause this disruption to those starting their second stint, to allow Max to extend his lead. Given the final result this was great execution on RedBull’s part.

At the time it seemed pretty controversial that Mercedes pitted Russell again essentially giving Hamilton the higher position. However the lap before Russell was asked to pit Hamilton was 8 tenths quicker. It seems like Mercedes wanted to potentially defend against Perez’ on newer Mediums in the pater laps. Given this, it is highly likely that Hamilton would’ve sailed past Russell in a few laps time anyway.

Leclerc made a last push on Lando getting within DRS range however we were all unaware that Lando was managing his pace and that as soon as the McLaren pushed it wasn’t even a competition. in a few laps Lando gained 3 seconds on Leclerc.

Lando made an incredible push in the last 10 laps. The gap to Verstappen at one point was 9 seconds. Lando clearly had been saving his tyres. With Max on his last warning for track limits it meant he could take no risks. Lando was pushing and got so close to DRS a number of times. The McLaren nearly went off in sector 1 trying to get within a second of the RedBull. A few more laps and we could’ve seen some real racing. P2 for the McLaren is still excellent for their fight with Ferrari.

Miraculously there was no safety car however Albon (Willams) and Alonso (Aston Martin) retired their cars.

Analysis

Again we see a medium hard compound pairing for a race. The soft did not have much life in the tyre. Only Gasly and Alonso used these however they seemed to die off around lap 7/8. The only way the soft would come into play would be in case of a late safety car.

There was some variability on the medium with the shortest stint being 8 laps for Albon and Bottas. The mediums were pushed to as far as 37 laps by Magnussen and Stroll on used mediums for 37.

What makes Norris’ late push even more exceptional is that he pitted two laps earlier than Verstappen and they we a used set. If they we new I wonder what he could’ve achieved. Overall it seemed the Medium to Hard was the optimum strategy.

To summarise, McLaren pace was exceptional however it is a shame they didn’t push a few laps earlier. This would’ve drained Verstappen’s battery even further and potentially forced a mistake with him on last warning. Looking forward to see what Monaco brings. Piastri for pole. I am saying it now.

Ferrari was not as impressive as we though going into this weekend. We were sure that they had some more obvious performance upgrades however this will likely have to wait for the medium to longer races.

Gaps closing to RedBull and even though they won they had to fight to the end for it. That is what we want to see am I right?

Standings

News Podium

1. George Russell won't 'sulk' after Lewis Hamilton beat him to sixth in Emilia Romagna GP following Mercedes pit stop decision 

2. Vasseur ‘a bit frustrated’ as he pinpoints where Ferrari lost chance of home Imola victory

3. Horner praises ‘phenomenal’ turnaround by Red Bull at the end of ‘stressful’ Imola GP. I believe this was more Max than RedBull

Next Race week - Monaco

Sector Analysis

Sector 1 We see an almost 90 degree right turn preceded by a braking force of 4.8 G on corner 1. Hitting this corner right is essential as the exit is into a small straight towards the casino. There is some elevation here as well to take into account. A fast left corner into right corner marks the end of sector 1 heading down hill towards the beginning of casino corner. This is likely the easiest sector of the track however no escape route makes any incident almost guaranteed red flag. High likelihood of a safety car.

Sector 2 begins with a downhill section, the driver always try to take the right hand side to avoid the dip in the road. From here the track enters the slowest part of the circuit, with three low-speed corners, starting with the iconic hairpin.

After exiting the hairpin, drivers approach Corner 7 and Corner 8, two right hand corners that can be a pain to navigate. It’s quite easy to brush against the apex of the second corner and send the car spinning.

Then we see flat out through the tunnel in to the most demanding braking point. This downhill can cause issues if carrying too much speed leading into track limits violations or potential of clipping the barrier in to Corner 10. We have seen many front wings go to heaven here.

Sector 3 Is the final sector of the circuit and starts with the last part of the swimming pool section with a fast left right into a fast right left sequence. We saw Leclerc end Q3 in 2022 at this point clipping the wall.the apex is so close to the barrier that driving has to be pin point especially in qualifying when the cars are their fastest. The last corners of the track, 18 and 19, are tight corners, and drivers tend to exploit every inch of the track. It’s easy to end up with the car in oversteer on 19 losing valuable time before getting back on the home straight.

I hope you enjoyed this issue. back to back Grand Prix’s lead to lots of content and we like content.

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