Lando Norris and McLaren singled out Ferrari as the favourite at this weekend’s Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix due to the Scuderia’s strength in low-speed corners.
The Ferrari SF-26 has continued a long-running strength of the Maranello’s lineage of F1 cars by being strong in low-speed corners and on traction, which will be a huge asset on the highly technical Monte Carlo street circuit. Meanwhile, its horsepower deficit to the Mercedes-powered cars will be a lot less detrimental.
That’s why reigning world champion Norris was convinced either Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton would be the pre-event favourites for success in Monaco.
“Honestly, I think that Ferrari will be on pole next weekend in Monaco,” Norris said after the Canadian Grand Prix. “Their low-speed performance is far better than everyone else.
“I look forward to Monaco because it’s Monaco. I had good success there last year and it was one of my best and most exciting weekends. But I think in the places we know we’re struggling, it’s not something that gives me confidence to say we’re going to be incredible. But you never know.”
When Motorsport put Norris’ words to his team principal Andrea Stella, the Italian agreed with his driver’s assessment.
“When we look at the overlay based on the GPS speed, we can see that Ferrari is definitely a competitive chassis in the corners, like in the first sector,” he argued. “And it’s not only a low-speed sector, but it’s also a sector with kerbing. And normally these features tend to be rewarded on a track like Monaco.
“In addition to that, we see, for instance in Canada, that Ferrari lose time in the straights, but you don’t have much of that in Monaco. So, I think Lando is pretty right in seeing Ferrari possibly as the favourite car for pole in Monaco.”
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Assessing McLaren’s own performance with its upgraded MCL40, Stella thinks his team can be in the mix too after Norris won the race last year.
“We definitely can say that at the current level of development, the McLaren is probably best suited for low-speed corners rather than medium and high-speed corners where we see Ferrari and Mercedes being superior,” he said.
“This should set us in a good position for Monaco. At the same time, unlike how it looks, in Monaco there are a few medium and high-speed corners. Casino corner is more than 150 kph, Tabac is 170-180, the swimming pool is more than 200. So actually, medium and high-speed performance is important in Monaco, but some of the low speed is extremely low speed.
“I definitely see Ferrari probably as the favourite, but McLaren can be competitive and we will try and repeat the achievement last year in Monaco.”
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