Just a few more days and then Formula 1 will start the engines again. Spa Francorchamps will be the illustrious stage of the fourteenth round of the season that marks the start of the final phase of the 2022 Formula 1, as Scuderia Ferrari will continue its duel with Red Bull despite the big deficit in both standings.
But most importantly, the Belgian Grand Prix will be the race in which the highly-discussed and controversial technical directive 039 will come into effect, by introducing a metric relating to the vertical oscillations that a single-seater can undergo and which imposes a crackdown on the flexing of the floors.
These will be the technical talking points of the Spa grand prix. And it will be necessary to understand if they will reflect on the sporting performance of the cars. In elementary words: will the changes introduced by the International Automobile Federation have consequences on performance? Will they reshuffle the values on the track? Will they help the teams in difficulty (which perhaps have applied the floor rules in a more rigid way) by penalizing those who were able to identify and implement the best concept up to this moment? These are all questions that should be answered in the woods of the Ardennes.
Clearly, Formula 1 also continues with its backstories and with the elements that have so far been at the center of attention during the first half of the 2022 Formula Onechampionship.
Among these backstories, there is certainly that relating to strategies. If Red Bull and its main driver are out in front of leading the rankings with a wide, safe and difficult to recover margin, this is also because someone has not done their homework well.
We are obviously referring to Ferrari which, in addition to the obvious reliability problems that have repeatedly hindered Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc (which are not exempt from avoidable personal mistakes that have aggravated things), has often made bad strategy decisions, questionable tactics and ineffective competition.
A dynamic confirmed by many episodes that led to valuable points lost by the Monegasque driver who is now eighty points behind the reigning world champion. A huge gap with nine races to go and which certainly cannot be recovered if strategic issues such as those of Monaco, Silverstone or Hungary would be repeated.
It,’s worth to point out that for those races, the Ferrari team bosses have tot admitted to making mistakes. Indeed, by hearing some debriefs from Inaki Rueda, the head of Ferrari strategies and by evaluating certain analyzes made by Mattia Binotto, it seems that the decisions taken in Monaco, Silverstone or Hungary were the best or the only ones possible. However, there have been many reports that showed with clear numbers and figures the fact that errors were indeed made by the Maranello team. Red Bull, therefore, was also able to take advantage of the Ferrari’s difficulties in making the best strategic calls to open a gap that only several technical failures could cover. And nothing so stirring is seen on the horizon.
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If Ferrari has faced so many management difficulties it means that the question is not so simple, that the solutions are not at hand. Beyond Mattia Binotto’s façade declarations that serve to keep the team united and to prevent the team from falling apart, a recent report from FormulaUnoAnalisiTecnica informs that Ferrari are working concretely to improve in the conduct of race operations. A work set up on a double front: on the one hand, the team working at the remote garage in Maranello is being integrated and, on the other, making the technicians work on the track “talk” better with each other alongise those who work remotely.
The Scuderia relied too much on the static forecast analyzes provided by the software, setting aside the indications that came from the drivers. On this front, Carlos Sainz was more successful in establishing himself by dictating the line to be taken by his pit wall. Which he benefited from, as could be seen in Monaco and Silverstone. On the other hand, Charles Leclerc relied more constantly on the box than his Maranello team-mate, showing a more passive attitude for which he paid a very high price. From now on, at Ferrari, they intend to support in a different and more complete way the action of the drivers who are and must be considered the first ‘antenna’ that collects valuable data while the cars are running.
Today’s Formula 1 is almost entirely based on computational analyzes and the application of predictive models resulting from increasingly precise simulations. But, to quote Maurizio Arrivabene, sometimes the intervention of a “trackman” is necessary, that of an experienced man who knows how to “read” the evolution of circumstances before they actually occur.
It is true that it is more difficult to make certain decisions when you find yourself in the lead of the race. It is also clear that it is easier to take risks for those who chase (as happened for Red Bull in Budapest, ed.), But it is no longer conceivable that a technical heritage such as that shown by the F1-75 is literally squandered due to conservative strategies that sometimes proved to completely waste the hard work of an entire weekend.
Carlos Sainz, during the Hungaroring weekend, said that Ferrari needs to mature and improve. The comments of Charles Leclerc also echoed those of his Maranello team-mate, a clear sign that the Ferrari drivers has to immediately take steps to avoid wasting more points and at least securing more race wins in the second part of the 2022 Formula 1 season.
The summer break, during which teams were not allowed to work on the cars, was used by Ferrari to reorganize internal resources and make them more efficient. But only the track, starting with the Belgian Grand Prix, will show if there are any signs of improvement.
This is not an ‘on – off’ binary mechanism and therefore time will be needed to restructure dynamics that for many years have not worked properly.
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