Russell suspects Ferrari were concerned the about potentially excessive wear on the legality plank on the underside of Leclerc’s car. He said they may have increased his tyre pressure when he made his final pit stop on lap 41.
Doing so would raise the car and reduce tyre wear but also negatively affect the car’s handling. Afterwards Leclerc said he had a problem with his car’s chassis from around lap 40.
“He’s not going to tell you that they’re close to being illegal,” Russell said.
“The only thing we can think of is they were running the car too low to the ground and they had to increase the tyre pressures for the last stint,” he said. Russell said when he caught Leclerc he noticed Ferrari “were using an engine mode that was making the engine slower at the end of the straight, which is where you have the most amount of plank wear.”
All cars are “close to being illegal” all the time. Most people call it “on the limit”. Precision is part of this sport, and small mistakes can have big consequences. George should know, his car was found to be illegal in Belgium GP2024 and he was stripped from his win because his car was too light.
George isn’t throwing shade. This is only a possibility for why their last stint was so disastrous. What changed? They overcooked the plank wear and to avoid disqualification they raised ride height and slowed top speed. It’s not throwing shade, it’s how George suddenly could catch and have several overtake opportunities. It’s not like suddenly Leclerc got slow or George got fast. The car changed.
In the last stint Leclerc was corrective steering based on input telemetry in corners more while going slower. It’s rationale to suggest less downforce. Lastly there’s only two things they can change at pit stops, tyres and front wing. Nothing else legally or time wise can be changed. It’s unfathomable to think they’d change the front wing on the race leading car. But ride height seems plausible, via more air in the tyres.
In other words George is likely right in his attempt to explain his sudden speed delta compared to leclerc.
Edit: Personally I bet the high pressure tyre was desperate if that’s the case. High pressure tyres make less contact with the road and decrease grip. So whatever fraction of height they gained they no doubt lost not just downforce from height but lateral traction capability in the tyre itself.
Hm… The plot thickens. Maybe this was why Hamilton was slow? As in maybe he said no to the shenanigans?
More info here: https://bsky.app/profile/fdataanalysis.bsky.social/post/3lvldmjguf22u
Does appear to be plank wear concern.
