That Ferstappen’s pole means to race and who really was to be the first

Today, on April 5, the qualification of the Grand Prix of Japan, which confirmed the trends discussed in yesterday’s analysis of practices: McLaren remained the strongest in one circle, but again did not realize all the potential, Red Bull was significantly added due to changes in the settings, and Mercedes and Ferrari were very dense. The teams confirmed their technical directions, and the qualifying peloton was again dense and competitive.

Ferstappen, Norris and Pastri. Fighting for pole

Mclarene has the highest level of clamping force among all, but again failed to realize the potential of the car to the fullest.

Before Saturday, the Red Bull team dramatically changed the approach to the RB21 settings. As noted in yesterday’s analysis of practices, Red Bull is able to create a “miracle” in the settings of the car from Friday to Saturday – and this is what happened. According to the head of the team Christian Horner, the changes were overgrown with the redistribution of weight, the parameters of the shock absorbers, the rigidity of springs and stabilizers of transverse stability. These steps helped to open the real potential of the car – the car was in its work window for the first time in a few weeks.

First of all, special attention should be paid to work with rubber – Ferstapppen perfectly prepared the tires for the final race, bringing them to the desired temperature range.

Despite the fact that some problems with the balance remained, Ferstapppen was able to offset them with his pilot. In the 11th turn, for example, he used an acute, the so-called V-shaped trajectory-later entry into a rotation with lower retention of minimum speed, but more efficient acceleration.

Especially a long time he won in the final chican (about 0.2 seconds), where RB21 worked steadily on the choices – at least in Max’s hands. This is a significant progress compared to the previous stages.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine Lando Norris, in turn, approached the braking in front of the chican – he slowed down before Lecler and Ferstapppen, and lost precious tenths, although he still ahead of the Dutch. In the brake areas, the machine looks unstable, and this problem is going on all weekends.

Oscar Pastri simply did not collect the perfect circle – especially weak came out the first sector, where MCl39 is very sensitive to the change of wind. Today, the direction of the air in the “eski” has changed to the mint, and this has a negative impact on the stability of the machine.

In addition, Ferstapppen set the car to a lower level of clamping, which will help him a lot if he does not lose the start. The fact is that the car McLaren, in addition to the high level of gripping, also loses its competitors by aerodynamic efficiency, so it will be extremely difficult to overtake the direct.

Ferrari is stable but limited by SF-25 capabilities

Charles Lecler spent a very assembled circle, given the SF-25 restriction. He managed to keep the tires in the working temperature range – one of the main tasks on a fast circle. However, the underpression still remains the main enemy of the “red” car – especially in the stud, “spoon” and chic.

The team tried to adjust the behavior of the back with the help of a rigid stabilizer of transverse stability and a more open differential, but this was not enough. Balance – on the verge of stability and excessive rotation that causes pilots to seek compromise.

Lewis Hamilton, who also had stability problems, admitted that he focused on racing settings. However, in the qualification mode, the car lost both in pace and confidence in turns.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine Mercedes nearby

In Mercedes, the philosophy of this weekend is reminiscent of Ferrari – with an emphasis on acceleration and stability in slow turns. The team was able to make some progress – the car looked better on straight lines, and the power plant added power.

Kamino Antonelli finally drove on a par with George Russell, although George continues to squeeze a maximum out of the car. In the first turn, he aggressively raised the speed, but later lost the pace – possibly due to tire overheating or a mistake at the apex point.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine Berman and Hadjar – Qualification Heroes

Oliver really was able to use the full potential of the machine, almost making mistakes during the session. Particularly good – almost traditionally – it looked in slow turns. It was also noticeable that the Haas pilot tried to shorten the distance where only it was possible and could not. In one circle, because of an attempt to direct the trajectory in Esca, he touched gravel, but in the other – in the final section after Shikan – was kept as close as possible to the boundaries of the route and wall near the boxes to shorten the distance.

As a result-10th place and exit in the third segment.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine Hadjar, despite the complaints throughout the qualification of problems with the car, was able to give a wonderful circle with time and the result that the car was really capable of. What the Frenchman complained to, it was not clear from the broadcast, but the onboard camera shows that the problem was most related to the brakes. Due to the simple manipulation of mechanics in boxes, the situation was partially corrected.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine Tsunoda: 14th place – failure or success?

After the first workout, where the difference between him and Ferstapppen was only 0.107 seconds, and the first segment, where the pilots were also in the TOP-10, the impression was that Red Bull had finally found a pilot that could go in Max style and not concede it too much. But the second segment and 14th place (after the fine of Sines) forced the fans to fall from heaven to earth.

However, albeit not dramatically, but the result was more caused by mistakes than a lack of speed in Yuki. The machine is much more suitable than Lawson, which he replaced. The mechanics have already noted how much Tsunoda looks more confident in both the car setting up and at his wheel.

The result of the Japanese spoiled a few small mistakes and failures during the circle: in the chican before entering the main straight line, Yuki was a little demolished, as after 1-2 turn before “Esca”. Then there is little traffic in front of the longest line and the same wear in the final chican as before the circle. In addition, Tsunoda said in a comment after the qualification that the work window of the car is so narrow that any mistake knocks the car out of it. That is, time is lost not only directly during the error, but also within a few turns after it – until it is not possible to return to the working regime.

Thus, Yuki lost about 0.15-0.20 seconds through all these failures – which is just the limit of the passage in the third segment. In any case, the Japanese can only be praised, because his predecessor Liam Lawson could not even reach the second segment.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine