Ferrari bouncing issue to be “most visible” in Spa

Charles Leclerc thinks this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix could be the race where Ferrari’s bouncing issues are the “most visible” as it readies the latest batch of fixes.

Ferrari’s Barcelona upgrade package came with a new floor that induced bouncing in high-speed corners, an issue which contributed to it drifting away from Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes on higher speed circuits.

The Scuderia mitigated the problem at the slower Hungaroring, but Leclerc is expecting the faster Spa-Francorchamps to be a much bigger test of whether or not Ferrari’s short-term fixes are working as intended to make the SF-24 more driveable in high-speed corners.

“On a track like Spa, I think this is going to be a real test for us, because it’s probably the track where I would expect our issues to be the most visible,” Leclerc said.

“There we’ll see if we have the confirmation that there’s still a lot of work to do before we get our issues fixed, or whether the upgrades of this weekend helped us make a step forward for those tracks.

“On a high-speed track, I expect us to struggle a bit more.”

In Belgium Ferrari will not revert to its older Imola spec like it did in Silverstone, using a package which didn’t suffer from bouncing, but is two months behind on development compared to its rivals.

Instead, the team is persisting with its most recent developments introduced to good effect in Hungary as Leclerc and Sainz finished fourth and sixth.

Further tweaks to make the car more resistant to bouncing will arrive in Belgium, where the phenomenon is expected to be more pronounced.

“The understanding is there,” said Leclerc. “The thing with the kind of [bouncing] issue we are facing is that it’s either on or off. It’s very difficult to see the improvement.

“Maybe you have it for less time, but it’s not like you improve the intensity of it. So whenever you have it, you have it.

“We are doing steps in the right direction. Whether it will be enough not to have it, I’m not sure yet. I will expect that in Spa it can be an issue again.”