What would you say would be the next step for Ferrari to help improve the performance of the F138?
A good question I think I'd focus on tires, with specific attention to tire temp management. Next for me would be low-drag down-force improvements. This would put emphasis on the floor diffuser and exhaust.
I agree, getting the car to work better with the tires so you get less degradation during longer runs. If they can achieve this they will be unstoppable.
I thought about this one a bit. F138 has quite a few bobs and vortex generators employed already so I certainly hope they're not near their development ceiling already. F138 seems to be rough on super softs as it thoroughly trashed them after 5-6 laps the other day. It's not clear if they blistered or grained or if the car was simply hard on them due to a lack of rear end traction and heavy fuel which we saw a bit of during preseason testing. The medium tire performance was the class of the field though, really wonderful on mid-fuel levels and mediums. I do not see what further they can do to tidy up their rear end performance in terms of aero bits as it's already quite complicated (there's always something that can be done but how much now?). I believe their rear end is lacking mechanical traction so I could see a rear geometry change as being on their short list. It's all diminishing returns now per Christian Horner so they're going to be pulling for half a tenth here and there, difficult now.
I wonder if they made their lower gears taller, they could use low rev engine weakness as a sort of traction control. It would hurt a bit at the start, but they could get on it earlier in the corners. Vettel is on the gas early in a corner when everyone else is neutral throttle until after the apex (it seems)
Stefano said they need to up the pace (as well as manage the tires). Ferrari: pace more important than tyre management - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com
