The disappointment of the French Grand Prix must be put aside quickly: Ferrari look ahead and there is only one goal awaiting the Maranello team, to build a solid double win at the Hungaroring in Hungary and finally be able to capitalize on the technical superiority of the F1-75 car.
So far, Ferrari has lived with the regret for what could have been and was not, leaving many points along the way that would have allowed the Italian side even to lead the standings, if not at least be a lot closer to Red Bull in this first part of the 2022 Formula One season. For now a few drivers’ mistakes have been added to those relating to strategies and reliability problems.
The situation is indeed heavily compromised, but the F1-75’s potential gives us the right to keep hope alive for better results in the second part of the championship, starting with the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend, as the Maranello team has to be able to express its firepower at the Hungaroring circuit.
The Hungarian track does not have fast corners, but it is a track with a rather high average speed and should perfectly adapt to the characteristics of the F1-75, the best 2022 F1 car on circuits where the maximum aerodynamic load can be expressed.
The evolution of Ferrari is constant: it must be acknowledged that every new update brought to the track this year by the technicians led by Enrico Cardile has been promoted and contributed to the car’s performance improvement, while Red Bull has rejected a floor copied from the Maranello team which did not adapt well to the RB18, but that we will probably see again later in the year.
In Milton Keynes they are trying to react with all their might, but at the moment the Maranello staff is aware that they have a winning weapon on their hands and, unfortunately, too often wasted.
At Paul Ricard we saw a different floor make its debut on the Ferrari part, with changes in the front part: the geometries of the Venturi channels have been revised, significantly reducing the air flow rate of the outermost one which no longer has an oblique but flat “roof”. The flow diverter which has the task of being a separator between the clean air arriving from the front and the noxious air caused by the turbulence of the wheel has changed shape and size, contributing to what is an aerodynamic optimization that is similar to Red Bull, as if there is a convergence on solutions which are giving maximum efficiency.
The interventions at the floor fence come after a painstaking effort since the British GP to reduce the tail section of the sidepods and limit drag. It was not surprising, therefore, that Charles Leclerc was able to defend against Max Verstappen despite the fact that the RB18 that could use the mobile wing: the world champion was unable to attempt even an attack on the Mistral straight, a sign that the great advantage which Red Bull had with the open DRS has gradually faded thanks to the development work that has been done at the Ferrari Racing Department.
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A contribution was certainly also given by low downforce rear wing which made its first outing in Canada with Charles Leclerc and that was then used permanently on the F1-75: the supports of the sides of the DRS have been reduced (now they are curved, whereas before they were more square). In Budapest, maximum aerodynamic load will be needed and it will be important to guarantee the best cooling options given the high temperatures that are usually recorded during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend. It should be noted that rain is expected on Saturday, on the day of qualifying, but Ferrari has shown to be competitive even with rain tires.
The simulator data confirmed a great adaptability of the F1-75 car to the Hungaroring where the drivers will use the freshest engines available, hoping that the issue identified which led to two failures of the Power Unit (Barcelona and Baku) is actually under the control and is managed by Enrico Guatieri’s men.
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