The summer break is over: Formula 1 gets going again in view of the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix which will be held next weekend in Spa Francorchamps. And the Ferrari Racing Department reopens its doors: the first shift of the three scheduled will begin at midnight, as soon as Sunday begins. There is no day of celebration after the holidays imposed by the FIA rules to prepare for the second part of the 2022 Formula 1 world championship.
Ferrari is back on track to overcome the bitter disappointment of the Hungarian GP: Budapest was a venue where the F1-75 cars should have been able to express a technical superiority and the ambition was to score a double-win that would have allowed Charles Leclerc to reduce the gap from the world championship leader, Max Verstappen.
The Monegasque, on the other hand, after an unfortunate race at the Hungaroring, with just a sixth place in Hungary, is currently 80 points behind the Dutchman, with just a slim chance of fighting for the drivers’ championship in the second part of the season. After a very hot first week with a lot of discussions, the following two weeks of summer break have put a stop to the controversy, and now the Scuderia is trying to forget about Hungary and focus on the last nine races of 2022.
The F1-75 in the cool temperatures of Budapest did not work properly, proving less effective than Red Bull in bringing the tyres in the ideal working window, as the Austrian team took home a victory in which they didn’t even believe in after Saturday’s qualifying performance, with the R18 on paper not very suitable for very slow tracks.
Ferrari, therefore, begins the second part of the season with the hope of confirming the strengths shown at a technical level so far, despite collecting much less than the potential it has brought to each track. Spa-Francorchamps will be an important, if not crucial, event.
Not only does it represent the resumption of the 2022 Formula One season, but the race on the track in the Ardennes opens a triple-header that also includes Zandvoort and Monza. Two fast tracks, plus the Dutch race which is the home event of the championship leader. A trio of appointments that can indicate what role the Scuderia will be able to play in this second part of the world championship: in defense against a charging Mercedes that is only 30 points behind in the Constructors standings or in the attack against Red Bull, at least to put some pressure on Max Verstappen’s side.
In Belgium the TD39 comes into force which changes the FIA checks regarding the flexibility of the floors: in Maranello they feel confident the F1-75 cars will not lose to much performance, given that the simulations ensure that the F1-75 will be competitive. The aerodynamicists have approved the new package for fast tracks, with a rear wing that will seek even more efficiency with the mobile wing open and other interventions aimed at reducing drag.
Free practice on Friday will play a strategic role, because Ferrari could decide to take a double strategic step: homologate for Charles Leclerc a new thermal engine, the fifth of the season, which will mean only five penalty positions on the starting grid if the F1-75 car will confirm on track the positive data seen on the simulator.
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The Ferrari 066/7 power unit, which has been revised and updated for reliability reasons, may include the latest evolution of the hybrid, which must be approved before the development freeze that will remain valid until 2025.
The Scuderia, therefore, could aim to compete in Spa-Francorchamps, Zandvoort and Monza with a fresh and more powerful PU (a gain of about fifteen horsepower), aware that the Belgium track should allow Charles to recover the five penalty places.
The Maranello engineers only hope to be able to compete on a “normal” Friday, without interference or bad weather conditions, to plan an aggressive strategy. We hope that the same aggressive attitude can also be seen at the level of strategies, showing a courageous team since Ferrari has nothing more to lose.
