2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah, April 18-20

[SoulPancake13]

Ferrari was really good in the high speed at Bahrain, but we must not forget that McLaren were much faster in turns 11-12 in Bahrain, which are the real high speed turns there.

For Ferrari to win, they need to be able to get the floor to run lower without excessive plank wear. Luckily Saudi is probably the flattest, least bumpy track on the calendar, which means they can probably get away with running the floor a little lower than usual.

Ferrari has great peak high speed downforce, but they dont have that amazingly immediate turn-in that Mclaren has. Ferrari will never catch up so long as their front end lacks that same kind of responsiveness, as it's ultimately a bigger time-winner over the course of the majority of tracks on the calendar.

According to AutoRacer, the issue with the balance lies within the weak rear - the front is strong but the rear can't follow, which leads to understeer on entry and oversteer on exit. Theoretically lowering the floor more would allow the rear to grip up more and follow the front, but let's wait and see

[SoulPancake13]

Oscar is 2-0 in quali and 2-0 in races against Lando here. I'll go for another Oscar win

Last year, McLaren put Lando on a weird gamble that didn't pay off due to low deg by putting him on mediums after the SC, otherwise he would have finished ahead.

Since Jeddah is more similar to Australia than any of the other tracks we have been at so far, I would place my bets on Lando - very few heavy braking zones (where Lando has struggled as of late).

[SB15]

My top 3 prediction for the race:

1. Lando
2. Max
3. Oscar

You just ignored the fact that the Mercedes duo exists lol.

[organic]

My top 3 prediction for the race:

1. Lando
2. Max
3. Oscar

You just ignored the fact that the Mercedes duo exists lol.

If red bull find a setup they'll be quick here as deg is usually low - tyres can do multiple quali laps. Red bull are particularly struggling with tyres overheating, but apart from that I don't think Merc has a sizeable advantage over red bull elsewhere

[bluechris]

My top 3 prediction for the race:

1. Lando
2. Max
3. Oscar

You just ignored the fact that the Mercedes duo exists lol.

And Ferrari

[SB15]

My top 3 prediction for the race:

1. Lando
2. Max
3. Oscar

You just ignored the fact that the Mercedes duo exists lol.

And Ferrari

Yes agreed, and Ferrari. Plus the McLaren doesn’t have particularly good straight line speed, as we seen in Monza and Vegas.

This weekend will show us a teaser of what will happen when the flexi-wing TD is put in place. Ferrari and Redbull i believe will be faster. Mercedes looks like the team to beat this weekend.

[organic]

https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/1912867191927759340

[Sevach]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GovejwbagAA ... &name=orig
https://x.com/AlbertFabrega/status/1912867191927759340

Mclaren's wing is lower downforce than they have been using so far.
The others are showing standard wings(doesn't mean they won't change as the weekend unfolds).

[bluechris]

Ferrari wing seems smaller but it has higher angle? Its like an AirBrake.

[CjC]

Sooo… has everybody remembered that a car which has inherently more downforce will just use a smaller rear wing to achieve a similar top speed to their competitors?

[AR3-GP]

Sooo… has everybody remembered that a car which has inherently more downforce will just use a smaller rear wing to achieve a similar top speed to their competitors?

Red Bull did the opposite in 2023. It’s ambiguous. Teams just run what the simulations tell them to. It’s not always intuitive.

[Seanspeed]

Ferrari was really good in the high speed at Bahrain, but we must not forget that McLaren were much faster in turns 11-12 in Bahrain, which are the real high speed turns there.

For Ferrari to win, they need to be able to get the floor to run lower without excessive plank wear. Luckily Saudi is probably the flattest, least bumpy track on the calendar, which means they can probably get away with running the floor a little lower than usual.

Ferrari has great peak high speed downforce, but they dont have that amazingly immediate turn-in that Mclaren has. Ferrari will never catch up so long as their front end lacks that same kind of responsiveness, as it's ultimately a bigger time-winner over the course of the majority of tracks on the calendar.

According to AutoRacer, the issue with the balance lies within the weak rear - the front is strong but the rear can't follow, which leads to understeer on entry and oversteer on exit. Theoretically lowering the floor more would allow the rear to grip up more and follow the front, but let's wait and see

I dont know, it seems like the same problem as last year. The front is 'strong' whenever it's proper low speed, but as soon as there's any kind of meaningful aero load on it, that agility dies away completely and the car starts to understeer.

I also think too much of Italian media and whatnot pass off speculation as fact when it comes to reporting on what Ferrari's problems are. The amount of knowledge they often propose to have just seems absolutely incredible to me. Like, Ferrari must have absolutely no PR control at all with how much Italian journalists regularly know about all the deep inner workings of the car and team. lol

So yea, as you say, we'll have to see.

[search]

FP1 Longruns:



so far Norris looks in a league of his own, but McLaren's friday pace hasn't been fully representative lately.

[SB15]

FP1 Longruns:

https://i.imgur.com/kMutiX4.png

so far Norris looks in a league of his own, but McLaren's friday pace hasn't been fully representative lately.

Agreed because Norris is not 1 second faster than Piastri.

[AR3-GP]

FP1 Longruns:

https://i.imgur.com/kMutiX4.png

so far Norris looks in a league of his own, but McLaren's friday pace hasn't been fully representative lately.

Agreed because Norris is not 1 second faster than Piastri.

Maybe Piastri had a bad setup. I think people are imagining that Norris is the outlier because it’s less scary…but I think it’s the other way around.