Formula 1 engineers have been surprised to see many different frontwing concepts this year, as the pre-season testing period began on Monday at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Did Ferrari get it right and Mercedes/Red Bull wrong? According to leading German automobile magazine Auto motor und sport (AMuS), Mercedes and Red Bull are analyzing the situation and try to stay calm, but the body language in both teams was a bit uneasy that Ferrari may have put on the right horse when it comes to the front wing concept and they not. Both now take a closer look at the concept of the opponent.
Should Ferrari’s front wing concept be the right one, Mercedes and Red Bull have a problem, Mercedes more than Red Bull. According to Auto motor und sport, any team that wants to convert from the Mercedes-type wing to a Ferrari wing, must also change the rest of the car, which would take weeks to match the data and produce the new concept.
AMuS also reports that Sebastian Vettel’s performance from Monday also made teams be a bit worried given the fact that Alfa Romeo Racing (who has a similar front wing concept to Ferrari) have performed very well too: “All data in the wind tunnel were confirmed on the track, including those of the front wing,” revealed team boss Frédéric Vasseur at the end of Day 1 of testing. This was the answer to the doubters who had already believed that Alfa Romeo had got it wrong with the new wing.
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