What does LICO reveal about Ferrari's current technical issues?

Hot on the heels of Ferrari's tough weekend at the Marina Bay Circuit, it has emerged that the Scuderia's performance was heavily limited by brake issues. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo explains how LICO forced Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to defend rather than to attack at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Ferrari endured a difficult weekend last time out at Singapore. The SF25 lacked speed in qualifying which saw Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc secure only the sixth and seventh spot on the grid.

The Monegasque got the better start on Sunday and found himself running fifth as he was able to overtake his team-mate and the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap.

However, Leclerc encountered technical issues and had to look after his brakes from the early stages of the race. As a result of his difficulties, he lost out to the Italian as he was forced to lift and coast in the majority of the race.

Hamilton spent the majority of the Singapore Grand Prix in P7. As he had a free pit stop window, he pitted for a second time to take a fresh set of softs. The seven-time world champion was able to eat up the ground to the back of his team mate on fresh rubber.

The Briton was let through to chase down his Mercedes replacement which he did, only to lose his brakes late on. He allowed Leclerc back through and lost nearly 40 seconds to Alonso over the last couple of laps.

However, while he was eager to nurse his brake issues on the final laps, he exceeded the track limits on four occasions for which he received a five-second penalty. It meant the Leclerc finished sixth while Hamilton left the Marina Bay Circuit with an eighth-place finish.

Reflecting on Ferrari's weekend, Leclerc admitted that he was not fully surprised by the Scuderia's lack of pace at the Singapore Grand Prix, as the practice sessions had indicated that the SF-25 would not perform in the same manner as its predecessors had at the Marina Bay Circuit.

"It was a really difficult race, unfortunately, a reflection of the whole weekend. Right from Friday, we struggled to find the right feeling with the car and we never managed to put everything together in the way we would have wanted.

"Today, in traffic it was impossible to move forward, as we also had to deal with cooling problems. Sadly, where we finished reflects where we are today.

"Over the past two races we have encountered various difficulties that we must now analyse in detail, so that we can start improving again. The aim is to be better prepared and ready to fight with our main rivals in two weeks’ time in the United States."

Speaking to reporters after the race, Leclerc revealed that Ferrari could have offer a better pace at Singapore, but he had to manage his brakes “throughout the entire race”.

“I think in the last laps we lost about 15 seconds to the leaders. But that doesn’t fully reflect the reality. I had to manage the brakes throughout the entire race, and it was far from ideal. All of us had to do it given the temperatures.

“But for us, it was really extreme, especially towards the end. From the first lap to the last, after the initial overtakes, it was an incredibly tough race.”

The radio exchange between Leclerc and his race engineer Bryan Bozzi revealed the real extent of the issues for the Scuderia. Bozzi requested Leclerc to carry out LICO for the majority of the race.

LICO stands for “Lift and Coast”, something that has been a common occurrence for Ferrari throughout this season.

While the Scuderia's drivers usually need to "lift and coast" in order to avoid possible issues with plank wear, the Singapore Grand Prix forced Hamilton and Leclerc to lift at the end of the long full-throttle sections to look after their brakes.

“Don’t even complain. For fu**s sake. We’re doing 200 metres of LICO all the time!,” Leclerc said over team radio."

Lap 5: Bozzi: „Keep doing some LICO T14 and T16, next 2 corners.”

Lap 17: Bozzi: „Cut the peak and LICO, rear left dics temp hot.”

Lap 18: Bozzi: „So rear left dics too hot. We need to remove some braking energy and bring it back down, rear left."

Lap 19: Bozzi: „Yes, we had a rear dics imbalance, you have recovered most of it now.”

Lap 20: Leclerc: „Tell me when I can push again. I am losing a lot of time.”

Bozzi: „Yes, gradually pick up the pace.”

Lap 28: Bozzi: „We need mild LICO, Charles, mild. Antonelli DRS.” Leclerc:„This LICO is…”

Lap: 29: Bozzi: „We need at least 30 metres in all the braking zones.”

Lap 39: Leclerc: „Which brakes do wee need to prtect?” Bozzi: „Now it’s the front, the front.” Leclerc: „Update me on these things.”

Lap 41: Leclerc: „Come on, I need updates ont he brakes, Front, rear okay. There is so much. I just need to know.”
Bozzi: „At the end of this lap, you can stop LICO and push.”

Lap 51: Bozzi: „We need 20 metres LICO again. We need to manage both front and rear brakes for 20 metres."