Free training sessions in France mainly produce distorted images | NOW

“There is still some work to be done.” Max Verstappen says it more often after a Friday, but the weather also applied after the warm day on the French south coast.

The Ferrari was dominant on a fast lap, in the second free practice Verstappen was even half a second short. “I don’t want to start fourth on Sunday,” the World Cup leader told his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase during practice. He wanted the Dutchman to focus on the race, but Verstappen drove another lap on the soft tires. There was no better time, at full speed the Red Bull let it be mainly in the third sector.

Different image on the medium bands, or is that also distorted?

After Verstappen switched to the medium tires after all, a completely different picture emerged. The Dutchman eventually only clocked five usable laps, but drove a better average than the two Ferraris. Over the total long runs, Verstappen clocked an average of 1.37.7, while the Ferraris recorded an average of 1.38.6. But the usual snags at these times are even bigger than usual.

First of all, it should be mentioned that the tires on the Ferraris were already five laps old before Sainz and Leclerc started the long run. In addition, Charles Leclerc was held up for three laps by Esteban Ocon’s Alpine from his fifth lap. That didn’t help his average. For a fairer picture, these are the averages over the first five laps on medium tires.

Ferrari must be careful with the engines

Now you might think that Red Bull can already put the Red Bull cold, but the observant follower knows that a similar picture emerged from the free practice sessions in Austria. Nevertheless, Verstappen was quite convincingly trumped by both Leclerc and Sainz on Sunday. The Spaniard just didn’t make it to the finish, behind which lies a reason that makes this big difference in the long runs largely explained.

Reliability is fragile at Ferrari, and the team does not want to lose more engines than necessary. Sainz will probably have to start at the back in France because he needs a new power source again.

That is why Ferrari will be extremely careful with the engines, especially on Friday. Those are being scaled back considerably, probably more than Red Bull does with their Honda engines. Coincidence or not, all Ferrari-powered cars also passed at least 10 kilometers per hour less speed trap than the Red Bulls, although Sainz and Leclerc also clearly drove with more ‘wing’ than Verstappen and Pérez.

Only when it really matters, Saturday afternoon in qualifying, will all the horsepower from Maranello be really unleashed. That certainly does not benefit the average lap times in the training sessions. The fast times on the red belt were probably set with the engine on a more enthusiastic setting.

Ferrari fell through the ice here last year

There is another factor, which Leclerc himself already mentioned on Thursday. Last year Ferrari fell completely through the ice at Paul Ricard, with tires that did not last long and two finishes outside the top ten. There is a good chance that the French asphalt simply does not suit the Italian way of tire management. Whether that is really the case will only become clear on Sunday.

The same applies to the question of whether the Ferraris will last in the heat on the French Riviera. Apart from the low-power mode, there is still no definitive solution to the problems the team is facing. It’s survival. An outside temperature of 36 degrees and asphalt of more than 50 degrees will probably not help.