Should Charles Leclerc’s fifth place comeback from the back row of the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix to be considered a good result for Scuderia Ferrari at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve? Nobody questions the performance of the Monegasque driver who stubbornly tried everything to recover as much as possible in a difficult weekend, but rather how much one could feel that the Maranello team has left something along the way in Montreal in a world championship in which any point can be decisive in the end.
With this in mind, Franco Nugnes pinpoints two aspects in a recent article for Motorsport Italy: the lack of traction at the exit of the hairpin before the straight where overtaking is possible and the strangely slow pitstop. Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto explained that to win a Grand Prix you have to be perfect, otherwise the result won’t come and Montreal has given yet another demonstration.
If we look at the rankings of the maximum speeds recorded at the speed trap, it is clear that the F1-75 was clearly the fastest single-seater on the straight: Charles Leclerc, always engaged in the tow of another car, drove almost the entire race being able to take advantage of the open DRS, which helped the Monegasque reach a top speed of 342.7 km / h, while the Grand Prix winner, Max Verstappen in the Red Bull RB18, without DRS and without a tow, did not exceed 332 km / h, as the Dutchman was able to defend aginst Carlos Sainz, who reached a top speed of 331.3 km / h.
The Spaniard took home the point for the fastest lap in 1’15 ”749 on lap 63, but although he seemed slightly quicker than the Dutchman he never managed to attempt an attack to the world champion. Some have ventured that Ferrari showed up in Canada with slightly weakened engines to avoid a problem of reliability following the issues encountered by Charles Leclerc in Spain and Azerbaijan.
“No, we were in full power – clarified Mattia Binotto – in Baku we did not expect to have any problems, because the power unit had just a few kilometers, now we have introduced two new power units with Charles so we will have breathing space for some races, indeed many races. . Unless unexpected situations, I would say that for the next GPs there will be no worries or rather everything will be under control ”.
So, then, why did the F1-75 car give the feeling of being less brilliant than in other races when it comes to its strong points, namely traction and acceleration? As for Charles, there are those who have focused on the new rear wing that appeared in Montreal on Saturday morning.
As Motorsport Italy explains, it was a solution that in Ferrari’s development plans was scheduled for Silverstone, the next appointment on the calendar, while the first element was ready in advance and for this reason Ferrari managed to ship it at the last minute in Canada.
The flatter wing, which helps improve efficiency when open DRS, was useful and did not unbalance the F1-75 by producing a lack of rear load when exiting the hairpin: the positive effect was seen at the very bottom on the straight where Charles Leclerc reached the highest maximum speed (with tow and DRS open) which was better than Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Nicholas Latifi who reached 339.8 km / h as the two also found themselves in situations similar to the Monegasque.
If all this is true, it is legitimate to ask why it took Charles several laps to get the better of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine? The problem, therefore, was not of an aerodynamic nature, although the F1-75 generates a little less load deriving from the wings, since the hollowed shape of the sidepods contributes to add downforce to the one produced by the Venturi channels under the floor, but it involves the electrical part of the power unit.
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In Canada, the engineers preferred to parcel out the electricity released by the MGU-K in the second part of the straight, to prevent the Maranello drivers from having to deal with “clipping”, the term used by F1 teams to describe the harvesting of energy that takes place.
Aware that Charles Leclerc had to carry out a sequence of overtaking, they tried to offer Charles a car that would allow him to compete in braking, without considering that he lacked something ( perhaps too much) out of the corner, trusting in the usual qualities of Ferrari which has a “Superfast” power unit that uses a smaller turbo which pushes the MGU-H already at low revs, giving up running at the maximum revs allowed by the regulation.
The effect achieved would have been that Charles Leclerc set the maximum speed yes, but those values arrived later than usual, paying a gap in the first part of the straight where, instead, the qualities of the engine should have been enhanced as compared to the direct competitors (Red Bull, but also Mercedes).
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