Last week, Formula 1 went to the Miami International Autodrome for the first time and the plenty of unknowns ahead of the race weekend given the new track determined most of the treams to only introduce some small updates to their cars, which proved to be track specific as most of them will not be seen again in the next round of the 2022 Formula 1 season, the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, there were indications that Ferrari would bring a new rear wing to Florida, but in the end the Maranello team decided not to us its new floor or rear wing, which were not seen even in the free practice sessions on Friday. The new floor version was briefly noticed on the F1-75 car which Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz took to the Imola circuit for the Pirelli tyre tests after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
This means that the final version of this floor should be introduced at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and will include some important changes to the side edge profile. As reported by racingnews365.com, it will also feature new ‘skids’ – located diagonally next to the Venturi channels – in order to replicate the solution which has been used by title rivals Red Bull even since the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first race in 2022.
In addition to this, the diffuser – in its central section – should be the one which Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc used in FP1 at the Albert Park circuit in Australia and will allow a better extraction of airflow from underneath the F1-75 challenger. The Italian side hopes that this solution will allow them to reduce the gap to Red Bull’s RB18, which was clearly faster at the Miami International Autodrome.
In the Miami Grand Prix, the difference between Scuderia Ferrari and Red Bull was not only made by the greater efficiency of the RB18 on the straights. What was more worryingly for the Italian side was the fact that the F1-75 showed an unexpected weakness in the slow corners.
Scuderia Ferrari’s tyre degradation on the Mediums was uncharacteristically high, and only partially aggravated by the low-grip tarmac of the Miami circuit.
Red Bull to continue its process of reducing the weight of RB18 car
Regarding rivals Red Bull, the Milton Keynes-based team – under Adrian Newey’s well-known technical guidance – will continue to bring updates and have planned a significant package for the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. This should not only make the RB18’s aerodynamic performance more effective, but also continue the weight-saving process that has began in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where Red Bull used a lighter floor, reducing the weight of the RB18 car by about four kilograms, which proved decisive in Max Verstappen’s win in a weekend when Ferrari was expected to challenge for the race wins, but was clearly behind in terms of race pace.
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Now the Austrian teams targets another weight reduction of a further seven kilograms, bringing Red Bull ever closer to the 798kg minimum weight limit. In order to achieve this goal, several elements have been redesigned and not only at an aerodynamic level. According to recent reports, several details, related both to the unsprung parts of the RB18 car, such as the hub carriers, and components of the power unit – particularly the cooling system (i.e. heat exchangers and radiators) – would have been overhauled, while ensuring the same heat exchange and efficiency in terms of lap time.
When it come sto the aerodynamic improvements, changes will be made to the diffuser and the floor’s leading edge, but at the same time some updates to the rear wing are also possible, mainly around the endplates.
This means that Scuderia Ferrari will be carefully monitoring and evaluating the updates which Red Bull will bring for the Spanish Grand Prix, in order to fully understand the areas Adrian Newey and his team have focused on, but also to evaluate the financial impact of the package, given the limited budget cap for the 2022 Formula 1 season and the heated discussions about how much each team has spent for development and updates in this first part of the championship.
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