Ferrari brought a new-spec rear wing to the Canadian Grand Prix, aiming to decrease drag and increase top speed, key in its fight with Red Bull for the titles.
However, the Italian team only had one at their disposal and they made the decision to fit it on Charles Leclerc’s car, not out of favouritism, but for practical reasons.
Being aware that the Monegasque was going to have to start from the bottom of the grid due to his engine change penalty, and taking into account that the qualifying session was going to be wet, the probability of an accident increased and was more sensible to place it on Leclerc , since he was not going to risk it.
Had he been in an accident in Q1 and damaged this rear wing, then a forced change to race specification would have landed him at the back of the pitlane heading into the start. Instead, Carlos Sainz would have gone from starting in the front row to the back of the grid.
This new lower downforce setup will be available to both drivers at the British Grand Prix , with the aim of helping to markedly improve overall efficiency.
This new wing is less loaded in the central part and provides an increase in speed on the straight, to the detriment of cornering.
The higher downforce option, which Sainz had in Canada, has the opposite effect, helping him better manage his tyres, but hurt him when he battled with Max Verstappen in the closing laps due to a lack of top speed.
The speed trap figures support this, with Leclerc leading the table with a top of 342.7 km/h , while Sainz did not exceed 331.3 km/h . Meanwhile, at the finish line, Leclerc clocked 300.6 km/h and Sainz only 294 km/h .
Ferrari was not the only team to go for two different set-ups among its drivers, as Mercedes also used alternative aero set-ups for qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton with the lower downforce rear wing hit 331.1km/h and 293.0km/h in the speed trap and finish straight respectively, while George Russell was last in both tables with the high downforce specification; 307.6 km/h (without DRS) and 283.8 km/h .
Mercedes , for its part, also tried some changes in the W13 on Friday seeking to minimize the negative effects of the famous porpoising as a result of a new FIA directive, which now seems to see it necessary to intervene to prevent this phenomenon from continuing to be a danger and a health problem for the pilots.
This technical directive opened the possibility of installing an additional metal support on both sides of the car (red arrow, in the photo below).
This was in addition to the tie rod that the teams were already able to mount to the rear section of the floor and which is usually attached to the gearbox engine cover (bottom right box, highlighted in yellow).
However, after free practice sessions, the Brackley team opted to remove the second tie before qualifying in Canada.
The German structure claimed that the additional strap had not helped them, but other teams criticized the technical directive as being used to promote a rule change rather than just guidance. This caused rumors of a possible protest if Mercedes went out on the track in qualifying or in the race with the second tie rod placed in the car of Hamilton or Russell .
