F1 Tech | Why Ferrari could fight against McLaren at Monza

The Monza Circuit is characterised by very long straights, twisty chicanes and three main fast corners: Lesmo 1 and 2 and Parabolica. As efficiency is preferred over downforce, teams often opt for super-thin rear wings to be much quicker around this track, thereby taking advantage of the downforce generated by the Venturi channels to have a good performance through the high-speed sections. This choice inevitably puts a lot of stress on the rear tyres: due to the very low level of downforce, the rear tyres slide at the exit of slow speed sections, overheating as a consequence. This causes them to degrade quite quickly during the race, being a crucial factor in terms of performance.

Two particular aspects make it extremely difficult for drivers to manage the tyres during the race: while the rear tyres’ temperatures must be looked after to make them last as long as possible, graining appears on the front tyres. In fact, due to the long straights and lack of continues high speed corners/sections, the front tyres struggle to stay within their working window, cooling down massively on long straights before being warmed up on the braking phases.

This progression causes a continuous cycle through the lap by which the tyres are not staying in their window for the whole lap, but they’re hot and then they’re cooling, making it extremely difficult for drivers to manage them. Graining, in fact, appears when the core of the tyre can’t reach its optimal temperature, while the surface of the tyre heats up. As the car turns into a corner, the tyre creates a “slip angle”, causing the hot tyre on the surface to slide along the surface of the tyre itself. This factor, however, causes a certain tyre degradation, and it’s worse on the softer tyre compound.

Over the race distance, graining starts forming on the front axle after a few laps, making drivers losing tons of performance as a consequence. After some laps, the graining could clean, allowing drivers to partially recover some grip and performance. These aspects combined make Monza a track where tyre management is crucial: while one axle is hot (rear tyres), the other cools down too much, making it extremely complex for drivers to be manage the tyres while still having a competitive performance.

These tyre management issues are amplified when cars are racing in the dirty air: since the rear wings are very skinny, the DRS effect is less powerful and thus is much more complicated to overtake the cars in front. Running in dirty air, however, could be even more penalising for the tyres, as the rear tyres start to overheat even more, with the fronts sliding. For these reasons, qualifying is crucial in Monza, as running in free air could represent a big advantage in terms of tyre management.

For this event, Pirelli are bringing the same compound choice of last year: the C3, C4 and C5. The soft tyre should be used only in qualifying, as it should allow drivers to exploit the maximum grip available over a single lap, but could degrade quite quickly with high fuel load, which is the reason why it’s unlikely to be used in the race. The medium C4 and hard C3, instead, should be used during the race, as they limit graining on the front axle. Having the longest pit lane of the season, with around 24/25 seconds lost for the pit stop, the one-stop strategy is often preferred, even though some teams could decide to take an additional stop if graining is too harsh.

Moving now on to analyse the top teams’ performance, McLaren arrive to Monza with a very positive momentum, despite some uncertainties related to Norris’ DNF. The Italian layout could represent the first big challenge for the MCL39: the slow and short chicanes of the Temple of Speed, together with the very long straights, could hinder the McLaren's strength seen during the season, like the great level of downforce expressed and the tyre management advantage over competitors.

Particularly significant, for them, it’ll be important to understand whether graining is still a big limitation on low downforce circuit or if this aspect have improved with the upgrades introduced between Austria and Silverstone. Already last year, in fact, both Norris and Piastri struggled massively with graining both in Monza and in Las Vegas and were unable to fight for the victory. This trend seems to have continued this year as well, since both McLaren struggled a lot with graining in Montreal, a stop-and-go circuit where the time spent in the mid-corner was very short.

The great level of downforce expressed from the Venturi channels, however, could be a big help for them: the additional load could allow the team to choose an even more extreme low downforce rear wing, confident that the additional downforce could compensate in the second and third sector, characterised by high speed corners. Moreover, the downforce generated by the bodywork and the floor could also help both Piastri and Norris better manage their tyres during the race (especially the rears), while the front graining could still affect their performances.

It’ll also be interesting to see how the tyre degradation will affect the teams’ strategy choices: last year both drivers opted for a two-stop strategy due to the excessive graining on the front tyres, but Leclerc was eventually able to win the race, with Piastri unable to get him during the final laps.

Moving now on to Ferrari, the team’s home race could represent a big opportunity for them to win their first race of the season: the very low downforce set-up required and the lack of long, slow speed corners should better suit the SF-25, which has proven to be quite competitive on low downforce circuits this season. A big factor for them will be the performance in qualifying: as already happened last year, the car seems to have improved in terms of tyre management during the race, but still lacks a bit of pure pace over the single lap.

A specific disadvantage for Ferrari could be the ride height: around Monza most team usually tend to low their car as much as possible, especially after the track resurface from last year. This aspect, matched with softer suspension set-ups to be much more competitive through slow speed sections and attack kerbs, could lead to a higher plank consumption during the race, an aspect Ferrari have particularly suffered during this season. As a consequence, the team could once again run the car slightly higher to prevent excessive plank wear, thus losing a lot of performance in the high speed sections (especially sectors 2 and 3) compared to the two McLarens.

For what concerns Red Bull Racing, the team will try to continue their the positive form from Zandvoort, where Verstappen was able to claim P2 with Tsunoda finishing in the points as well. The Red Bull cars, however, have never been designed to be quick on low downforce circuits and the RB21 is no exception: the cars performs really well in high speed corners and on those layouts where a stiff suspension system is required (like it happened in Suzuka and Saudi Arabia). However, the softer mechanicals set-up required for this race, together with the very few high speed corners present, will probably put Red Bull in a difficult position this weekend.

The only advantage they could have compared to the previous editions is that they have a proper low downforce rear wing: this rear wing spec was already tested (and used) during the British Grand Prix weekend and in Spa-Francorchamps as well, where it allowed Verstappen to win the Sprint on Saturday in Belgium. That performance could be important data for Red Bull: if Verstappen, by taking advantage of the very unloaded rear wing and the stiff car through the high speed corners manages to take pole on Saturday, it’ll be extremely difficult for competitors to pass him on track and thus it’d be an opportunity for the team to try and fight for the win.

Last but not least, Mercedes will probably be suffering a lot in Monza, not so much in qualifying, but especially during the race: the rear tyres overheating could massively slow the W16 down, which have been suffering from this issue since the beginning of the season. However, the low engine rpm could give all Mercedes powered cars a particular boost in all traction phases, a crucial weapon to fight against other cars during the race.