Scuderia Ferrari is confident it has reduced Red Bull’s DRS advantage and the top speed differences between their Formula 1 cars, which were clear in the start of the season, have now become ‘negligible’.
Red Bull and Ferrari started the 2022 Formula 1 championship with completely different car characteristics, despite the fact that the overall lap time there was no big difference between them. The F1-75 car proved in slow corners and medium speed corners, while the RB18 was a lot faster on the straights and flat-out corners.
However, as the season has progressed, the two sides have changed their challengers to react to their main opponent, as the performance dynamics have converged – with the Maranello team as fast as the RB18 car on the straights at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
Scuderia Ferrari feels that a new low-drag wing that was first run by Charles Leclerc at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has brought an important step in wiping away the top speed advantage of Red Bull – especially when the DRS in use.
Asked by if the balance of performance between the two teams had changed now, Mattia Binotto explained: “We had a disadvantage compared to the Red Bull, no doubt, in terms of straight line speed – especially in DRS zones. In terms of power of their DRS, compared to ours, we worked a lot on it. So the new rear wing that we introduced first with Charles in Canada, we have had it on both cars since UK. And with that new rear wing, I think we have simply reduced the gap we had in terms of speed. I think they still have got a slight advantage, but it’s very little or negligible.” – the Ferrari boss explained.
The move to a lower drag wing, instead of simply removing downforce, meant the Italian side did not sacrifice the strength it has had several times in this first part of the season in terms of tyre wear. Mattia Binotto believes that in terms of traction, Ferrari and Red Bull are also very close, but the Maranello team boss added that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are better able to exploit a grip advantage the F1-75 challenger seems to have.
“In the power limited [corners], we are very close. Then it’s only about the grip limited corners where we can make the difference. I think [in Austria] we have been fast, not only because of the car, but because I think the two drivers made a fantastic weekend in terms of car balance, car setup, understanding the tyres, managing the tyres and driving on track.” – he explained.
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The F1-75’s updated low drag rear wing is has the target of performing best on medium downforce circuits, as Ferrari was aware that Red Bull’s characteristics had previously given it an important advantage. In a recent interview about the wing, Claudio Albertini, Ferrari race operations manager, said: “It is for the average level of downforce, similar to what we used for example in Miami or Australia, that kind of track. So [we are] keeping that level of downforce, and we’ll work on the efficiencies to have a more efficient wing rear wing.”
Asked if reducing drag was something the Maranello team had targeted by itself, or was a response to Red Bull’s advantage, the Ferrari race operations manager replied: “With developments, sometimes you realise [things] when you are racing. You can see how you compare to other teams and where you can improve. We could see that, for example in top speed, it was an area which there was some room to improve and we improved the efficiency for this reason.” – he concluded.
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