Scuderia Ferrari confirmed that working on geting a better understanding of why rivals Red Bull were so much quicker than it on the straights in the first round of the 2022 Formula 1 season, the Bahrain Grand Prix. The two teams proved to be evenly matched in laptime around the Sakhir circuit last weekend, but analysis of the GPS data showed that the F1-75 and the RB18 cars displayed very different pace characteristics.
The Maranallo team’s challengers seemed to be better under acceleration and in slower speed corners, while the Red Bull excelled at the end of straights and in high-speed turns. While many feel that Ferrari can now rely on the best power unit, the performance differences pointed out by the GPS data are intriguing, given the fact that in theory lower downforce levels should not have allowed Red Bull to excel in some corners.
When asked for an explanation and whether Ferrari has reached a conclusion about where Red Bull’s top-speed edge came from, Carlos Sainz confirmed that analysis was still ongoing: “It is one of the things that we are looking into, mainly because we know that part of our deficit to Red Bull that we had is exactly where you mentioned. We are analysing drag levels, and things that we can do to see if we can be stronger in that part of the circuit. It just shows that we’ve done a good step in the engine and all that, but the others are still very competitive. They have also very strong power units and drag levels, so it’s going to be a tough competition.” – the Spanish driver said.
Carlos Sainz did also not agree with the idea stated by many that Ferrari’s new engine is now the best in Formula 1:
“It’s not superior, but it’s a good engine,” he said. “Red Bull had more top speed than us, and nobody talks about the Honda engine. It seems that suddenly Ferrari is top, but Red Bull had 5km/h more. We have to talk about others, not just Ferrari. For the moment we can be more relaxed about reliability.”
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Taking into consideration the track characteristics of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Charles Leclerc is aware the Maranello team needs to find an answer to the top-speed differences: “We are definitely on it,” he said. “We are looking at it, obviously, but I think it can change from track to track. Seeing what they [Red Bull] have shown in the straight lines in Bahrain, it could be that they might be even stronger on this kind of track. So we need to keep pushing at this.” – the Monegasque driver concluded.
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