Once again in Austria, Scuderia Ferrari ends the race with the regret of having lost important points due to failures related to the reliability of the 066/7 Power Unit, for the third time this season, after the similar outcomes in Spain and Baku. Overall, the single-seater from Maranello has always had a more consistent pace terms of performance than the Red Bull cars, proving to have an excellent balance on almost all tracks in this first part of the 2022 Formula 1 championship.
The F1-75 concept is for now unchanged from the beginning of the season, except for some changes to try to reduce porpoising and drag without losing downforce points. Thanks to the new generation of rear wings with more efficient DRS introduced starting from the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, the top speed gap Ferrari had as compared to rivals Red Bull has gradually narrowed.
The slightly more closed engine cover introduced at Silverstone, together with a slightly more hollowed undercut of the sidepods, were brought with precisely the goal of educing the drag of the F1-75 without sacrificing downforce. In Austria, to make the Power Unit “breathe” and combat overheating, a hybrid engine cover was mounted on the F1-75 with the novelty introduced at Silverstone confirmed but coupled to gills with a greater opening, and confirming the strategy introduced after the negative Azerbaijan GP with limited engines of 20 HP compared to the mappings previously used during free practice, according to formu1a.uno.
Compared to the RB18, the car designed by Italian aerodynamicist Enrico Cardile still suffers slightly from porpoising / bottoming, but the Italian team has been able to manage this problem that appeared with the 2022 cars well. The only unknown that remains is reliability, especially as it begins to become decisive for the fate of the two world championships, Drivers and Manufacturers.
The flames that engulfed Carlos Sainz’s F1-75 car at the Red Bull Ring leave little doubt that most of the engine’s macro components will have to be thrown away. The joy for Charles Leclerc’s victory in Austria have a bitter aftertaste for the Maranello engineers that gives reasons for concern in view of the rest of the 2022 Formula 1 season. With the hybrid unit number 2, Ferrari has already made some changes for reliability, taking advantage of the rule that allows engine manufacturers to intervene on power units approved and frozen since March.
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Carlos Sainz’s retirement almost certainly cost a one-two finish at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, with the Spaniard preparing to attack Max Verstappen for P2 just moments before suffering the mechanical failure. Charles Leclerc must absolutely complete the next two races, in France and Hungary, without other issues, in order to be able to finish the season with a maximum target of two other power units currently planned for Spa and Austin. With those units, barring further problems not foreseeable to date, Ferrari will also introduce the new hybrid which is currently in the last phase and will allow the F1-75 to eliminate that little clipping at the end of the straights, which contributes in its part to generating that little but “irrelevant”, according to Mattia Binotto, gap in terms of top speeds compared to the RB18.
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