How Leclerc “paid the price” for Ferrari’s bold but flawed strategy · RaceFans
Ferrari made one of the most peculiar tactical calls in the Brazilian Grand Prix and it did not pay off for Charles Leclerc.
On a day of dire weather conditions, most teams held off changing tyres until they could do so with either minimal time loss under a Virtual Safety Car or Safety Car period, or no time loss under a red flag. Ferrari, however, brought Leclerc in during green flag running, the costliest way to change tyres.
Why did they do this? Leclerc was running fifth at the time, keeping Max Verstappen at sword’s length. Perhaps Ferrari assumed Red Bull would soon bring their driver in to ‘undercut’ them by getting him on to fresh rubber sooner.
But any advantage they hoped to gain vanished when Leclerc became stuck behind Oliver Bearman and Lewis Hamilton. Clearly Ferrari either expected to get him out ahead of them, or their performance advantage would be great enough for him to sweep by. Instead, Leclerc spent two laps in their spray, and only got by once they pitted during the VSC period.
Had it not been for the VSC period, Leclerc could have been in a strong position as the rain intensified. Having fresh intermediate tyres fully up to operating temperatures can be a significant advantage over those labouring on worn rubber when fresh rain falls. Unfortunately for Ferrari the track and race conditions did not turn out as they hoped.
As well as Verstappen, Leclerc was running ahead of Gasly when he pitted. Neither of them had the chance to pit during the VSC period, so Leclerc fell behind them. They eventually changed tyres during the red flag.
That left Leclerc seventh when the race restarted. He picked up places from Tsunoda, then Lando Norris and George Russell at the second restart, before falling behind the Mercedes again. Afterwards he said his pit strategy left him on the back foot.
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“We paid the price a lot,” Leclerc told the official F1 channel. “In the first stop we stopped too early and ended up in the traffic and that cost us three or four positions. So then to come back from that was very difficult.
“But P5 in front of both McLarens, at least it’s a damage limitation weekend where we are only losing four points to them today, which could have been a lot worse.”
Both Ferrari drivers complained the SF-24 suffered poor balance in the wet conditions. Carlos Sainz Jnr crashed twice and Leclerc said they were “just not fast enough.”
“The car was extremely difficult to drive,” he explained. “Very, very pointy, very digital, very oversteer-y and it was very difficult to drive.”
“On the other hand, I felt with what we had, we did the best, more or less, we could do,” he added. “If you look at the top three, I think these are the three drivers that put no foot wrong on such a long race, and this is very difficult, and they deserve to be on the podium.”
Verstappen certainly hit his stride after he passed Esteban Ocon to lead on lap 43. Not only did he set a fastest lap a full second quicker than anyone else, he did eight more laps which would have been quick enough for the bonus point.
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2024 Brazilian Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
2024 Brazilian Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
2024 Brazilian Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Rank | # | Driver | Team | Complete stop time (s) | Gap to best (s) | Stop no. | Lap no. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 24.573 | 1 | 24 | |
| 2 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 24.764 | 0.191 | 1 | 28 |
| 3 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 25.107 | 0.534 | 1 | 27 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 25.205 | 0.632 | 1 | 27 |
| 5 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | 25.239 | 0.666 | 2 | 30 |
| 6 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | 25.248 | 0.675 | 1 | 27 |
| 7 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | 25.287 | 0.714 | 1 | 26 |
| 8 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 25.369 | 0.796 | 1 | 25 |
| 9 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 25.431 | 0.858 | 1 | 28 |
| 10 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 25.698 | 1.125 | 1 | 28 |
| 11 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 25.92 | 1.347 | 1 | 27 |
| 12 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 26.05 | 1.477 | 1 | 27 |
| 13 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 26.692 | 2.119 | 1 | 27 |
| 14 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | 27.067 | 2.494 | 2 | 28 |
| 15 | 30 | Liam Lawson | RB | 28.167 | 3.594 | 1 | 28 |
| 16 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 28.59 | 4.017 | 3 | 29 |
| 17 | 50 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 35.755 | 11.182 | 1 | 27 |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 58.984 | 34.411 | 2 | 27 |
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix
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