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Mugello is one of the unexpected, extraordinary additions to the 2020 Formula 1 calendar amid the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic and drivers have finally been let loose in opening practice for the Tuscan Grand Prix.
The Italian track hosted testing eight years ago but has never held a grand prix. It’s renowned for its high-speed nature and the Tuscan topography creating a unique challenge, one the majority of the grid was incredibly eager to sample in modern F1 machinery.
For the drivers, this was worth the wait. And there was plenty for us to learn as well.
F1 is still punishing – if the circuit allows it
This time a week ago some sensitive souls were reeling from the barrage of deleted lap times because of track limits offences at Parabolica. Monza’s majesty has been chipped away at by run-off replacing grass and gravel.
Not so at Mugello, where small amounts of run-off on the exit of the high-speed undulating sweeps give way to exactly what’s gone from much of Monza: grass and gravel. And it caught multiple drivers out on Friday as Lando Norris shunted and both Ferraris spun.
“It punishes you if you make a mistake,” said Williams’s George Russell.
The tally of references to this being an old-school circuit is starting to run quite high, but it’s true. F1 circuits are either being stripped of their character or designed without much in the first place, and Mugello is a welcome break from that.
“It is [unforgiving],” said pacesetter Valtteri Bottas. “There’s a few places that there’s definitely not much space to make mistakes and that’s how it should be.
“It always brings extra excitement. You make a mistake, you’ll be penalised for it. I like these types of circuit.”
It begs the question: why can’t we have more like it? Safety is of paramount importance but the FIA’s signed off on Mugello hosting a race and hasn’t ordered the removal of gravel traps. So safety can’t be the reason, or at least not the only one. Cost of circuit maintenance tends to be another.
Ferrari’s clearly happy to operate Mugello with this kind of run-off in mind. If only other circuit owners were so willing. – Scott Mitchell
‘Pure pleasure’ for the drivers
Formula 1 drivers have been talking up Mugello ever since it was first floated as a potential venue for the reshaped 2020 Formula 1 calendar. In an era where fans have got used to seeing the same old circuits used year after a year, a new, more old-fashioned driving challenge where the drivers can’t hide their excitement showcases F1 in a positive light.
This is doubly important given the unfair perception that F1 drivers are somehow risk averse or want to be wrapped in cotton wool when it comes to the challenge. Mugello is exactly what they want to take on.
And it’s not just demanding in terms of precision, as Norris showed by crashing after dropping a wheel into the gravel – describing it as a small mistake that was effectively a big one given the consequences – but it also asks a lot of the drivers physically.
As Mark Webber said in June, drivers “necks are going to snap in half”, while Daniel Ricciardo suggested their heads would be falling off in certain corners! With high lateral forces approaching 6g during Friday practice, the sweeps of the Tuscan circuit certainly lived up to expectations.
“For us drivers it’s absolute pure pleasure. For the racing aspect maybe a bit more tricky. But for now we don’t care, we just go and drive fast” :: Romain Grosjean
And we haven’t even seen cars at the their limit today. As Norris put it, “come quali we will see the true experience of a Formula 1 car at Mugello”.
With only six braking events per lap and serious corner speeds, this is a fast circuit despite the many twists and turns. The average speed of Valtteri Bottas’s fastest lap in FP2 was 152.394mph, which is only 11.873mph slower than Lewis Hamilton’s fastest-ever average lap speed set in qualifying last week on a track that spends far more time going in a straight line.
“It’s fast, it’s definitely a serious challenge,” said Hamilton. “It’s incredibly fast through [Turns] 6, 7, 8, 9 [Casanova, Savelli and the Arrabbiatas].
“It’s intense. I have to say it’s amazing to experience it.”
It was perhaps best summed up by Romain Grosjean, who was gushing in his praise.
“It’s good, really good,” said Grosjean. “Very fast, very flowing, absolutely mega. For us drivers it’s absolute pure pleasure.
“For the racing aspect maybe a bit more tricky. But for now we don’t care, we just go and drive fast.” – Edd Straw
An unusually busy Friday
Friday’s opening practice session had some novelty value at the Austrian Grand Prix back in July. We’d waited months for on-track F1 action again.
But since then it’s not the most attention-grabbing part of the weekend. It’s also just a formality for teams most of the time.
Not so at Mugello as teams and drivers had to get down to business. The 20 drivers managed 244 laps between them in the opening 40 minutes alone. We’re using this mark as it’s when drivers have to ‘hand back’ a set of tyres so it usually acts as a neat cut-off in the session.
At Mugello, this meant nearly 800 miles racked up by the 20 drivers in 40 minutes, more than any other Friday this season. The next-highest, which was actually recorded last week at Monza, was 70-odd miles short.
Teams have had to conduct a serious amount of pre-event preparation to get ready for Mugello, a circuit with precious little data for anybody except Ferrari, which tested at the track with an old car earlier this year. Friday was therefore crucial to get some real-world correlation.
A pair of red flags hurt the final total across FP1 and FP2 but the teams still racked up 3767 miles between them on Friday. Only Monza and the season-opening weekend (small wonder why!) had more running.
At such a high-intensity track, that’s going to punish the drivers physically – though everyone held up OK on Friday.
“On one lap it’s fine, you don’t really feel it,” said Ricciardo. “But the longer runs you start to feel it towards the end because the high-speed stuff, [Turns] 8 and 9 [the Arrabbiatas] is pretty much full throttle.
“After 59 laps or whatever we’re doing round here we’re going to feel it. And at the end of a triple-header? I think everyone’s going to have a few days off next week!” – SM
Ferrari’s problems can’t be masked by new paint
Ferrari has enjoyed plenty of deserved goodwill around its history and pleasing-on-the-eye tribute livery on the eve of what it’s calling its 1000th F1 grand prix.
And on-track things looked a little bit better than they have been of late as Charles Leclerc was a surprise third-fastest in opening practice.
But team boss Mattia Binotto admitted he wasn’t confident of that remaining the case and Leclerc was quickly down to 10th in FP2, with Sebastian Vettel 12th.
Obviously, a fresh coat of paint was never going to mask Ferrari’s problems. But the first proper day of a weekend that should be a celebration of the team has just underlined how far it has fallen.
Really, given the limitations of the SF1000 (and in particular the underpowered engine), 10th and 12th in Friday practice is par for the course. But another reliability problem for Vettel is a huge blot on Ferrari’s copybook.
It should be well past this by now but instead, Vettel’s problems are racking up. It’s the third Friday in seven events he has hit mechanical trouble, this time his car grinding to a halt after the chequered flag. No other engine manufacturer is having this much woe.
The special livery is a really nice touch from Ferrari, and complemented by a gorgeous Vettel crash helmet retro special too. Unfortunately, matters of greater substance continue to be far less cheery. – SM
New challenges catch out even Hamilton
While the majority of the drivers have lapped Mugello in some form or another before this weekend, a less familiar track creates new demands to get on top of.
And with several corner combinations multiplying the time loss, there’s plenty of new tricks to master – especially at a circuit that has no lack of undulation. Even F1’s superstar, Hamilton, admitted he still has a little to learn.
“There’s not a huge amount of change I need to do to the car at the moment because when you’re experienced as a racing driver there are times where there’s no point changing the car because you’re not driving it well enough,” he said.
“The first and second sector are a little bit weak for me” :: Lewis Hamilton
“So you’ve got to get to the point that you’re at the limit and then you can tweak it. So there are areas that I’ve got to make a big change but I’ll do that tonight and hopefully improve it tomorrow.
“The first and second sector are a little bit weak for me, particularly the first sector, so there’s plenty to come from that section as you saw Max and Valtteri were very quick through there. A lot of studying tonight. Hopefully I’ll rectify that tomorrow.”
The lack of margin for error means the battle to unlock lap time vies with the desire not to make a crucial mistake, making it much more high pressure for the drivers.
”It’s a fantastic circuit, no room for mistakes, which is very enjoyable,” said Sergio Perez. “The run-off areas are extremely close.
“All of a sudden, it puts a lot of tension onto the driver, which is always good.” – SM
But this track only works as a one-off
There’s an obvious beauty to Mugello from the scenery alone and the challenge is something quite special.
But pretty quickly the novelty will wear off. The spectacle will be dimmed after qualifying and if it wasn’t already obvious before today it’s clear the race isn’t going to feature much overtaking.
Drivers only need to use the brakes six times over a lap and the only time that results in anything close to a big stop is at the end of the start-finish straight. Even then they are only going down to fourth gear.
The tyres are holding up better than expected, so while that is still likely to be a challenge (but more on that elsewhere) it’s not set to revive late-race tyre explosions a la Silverstone.
This looks like a race that’s going to be won on Saturday and reduced to DRS-only passes down the start-finish straight on Sunday.
Even that’s not guaranteed given the straight’s not a great deal longer than Barcelona’s, and the entry to the straight is a medium-speed corner that will be tough to follow through.
Mugello is a beautiful, brilliant addition to the F1 calendar in an extraordinary season. And that’s all it should be. – SM
The pitlane’s a potential problem
As an old-school circuit, Mugello doesn’t have the most out-of-the-way of pit entry and exits. This could add an extra element of confusion to the race.
The pit entry is located at the exit of the long Bucine left-hander that leads onto the start/finish straight. The drivers dive to the right from the racing line in the vicinity of where they would be considering shifting up to seventh gear, and while there’s not a big brake that might cause the kind of accident that happened at Estoril in 1992 when Riccardo Patrese was launched off the rear of the slowing Gerhard Berger’s McLaren as it pitted, stops under green flag conditions could cause some stress.
Perez illustrated this in both free practice sessions, first incurring the ire of Grosjean by getting in the way cruising around the inside of the first corner after joining the track in FP1 and then pitching Kimi Raikkonen into a spin in similar circumstances in the afternoon.
He blamed the long pit exit running parallel to the main straight for what happened, which played a part in him only being hit with a one-place grid penalty.
“I feel that the pitlane exit line goes far too long and doesn’t give enough angle to the cars,” said Perez.
“It’s a new place, we’ve never been before. I was aware that Kimi was there, obviously not that close because when I’m in the pitlane I’m not able to see him, it’s quite a distance and unfortunately I couldn’t avoid him.”
And given it’s an unfamiliar circuit, drivers were also practicing their approaches, perhaps explaining why four drivers – Nicholas Latifi, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Leclerc – were all hit with speeding fines. – ES
‘Brutal’ tyre challenge disguised so far
Mugello was always going to be a challenging circuit for the tyres, with Pirelli allocating its three hardest compounds as a result.
Unusually, this looks set to be a wear-limited race rather than one determined by degradation with the front-left the most heavily stressed. As Vettel put it, it’s “brutal” for the tyres.
Pirelli motorsport boss Mario Isola likened Mugello to Silverstone in terms of the demands, and Silverstone was a circuit where wear caused several late punctures at the British Grand Prix this year thanks to the long stint on hards.
But while the medium and the hard generally look like adequate race tyres, the softs are less durable and Pirelli expects a two-stopper to be likely.
Having said that, the difficulty of passing here will surely push teams to try one-stopping given the chance, particularly those with free starting tyre choice.
“The performance of the tyres is quite good, especially the hard and the medium,” said Isola. “The soft is quite an aggressive choice, the characteristics of the circuit are high severity especially in combined traction and lateral. The level of Tarmac roughness is quite high.”
Different teams had different experiences with the tyres. McLaren, having flown at Monza, had a difficult day and also found the hards tricky, while others found it a little easier.
With little sign of blistering or graining today, come the race Pirelli expects teams to be able to manage the rubber easily enough.
But when a track is this demanding, there are always question marks – especially given the high temperatures and the lack of familiarity with the circuit. – ES
