Ferrari is looking forward to the Australian GP, trusting in the F1-75’s great adaptability to different tracks, so the technicians headed by Enrico Cardile are concentrating on the future development of the red car.
Mattia Binotto said the updates will be introduced when in Maranello they are certain that they will bring a performance improvement:
“The developments from here on will decide who comes out on top for first place: when you have two cars as similar in performance as Ferrari and Red Bull each update will be very important because a tenth or two will make a difference at this point of the season. There is a budget cap which imposes limits and I am insisting every day with the Federation for them to carry out the checks, because if these do not happen we risk to somehow offset the final result”.
Nikolas Tombazis, FIA technical manager of the car sector, replied to these considerations in a recent interview for Gazzetta dello Sport: “Our first objective is to ensure that the championship is clean, we want those who deserve it to win. Today’s regulations require much more control of resources: now we have to inspect what teams do at home as well. But for financial controls we have a capable team led by our colleague Federico Lodi. Mattia can rest assured, we are doing everything to keep the situation under control. We have tax experts who check the balance sheets and the parts that are mounted on the cars to make sure we are billed correctly”.
It will turn out that a good accountant can count as much as a good chief designer, but this is modern F1!
In the meanwhile, Scuderia Ferrari is planning the first evolutionary packages of the F1-75: according to the first rumors reported by Motorsport Italy, we can expect them for Imola: in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix we will see the first interventions aimed at the aerodynamic efficiency of the F1-75 and reducing the weight of some parts.
The goal is to remove about 3 kg from the single-seater which is overweight like almost all other Formula 1 cars with the exception of Alfa Romeo which is even even able to use ballast to balance the C42. In Maranello they are working in the tunnel to reduce drag and bring the maximum speeds that the Red Bull RB18 can produce at the end of the straights.
As far as the porpoising battle is concerned, we will have to wait for the Spanish GP, which will be held in Barcelona on 22 May: at the Montmelò track, Ferrari should have the new floor specification, thanks to which the negative effect of the bouncing will have to be greatly reduced, allowing to the F1-75 to run with a floor which can be closer to the ground and therefore not lose the aerodynamic load that is generated under the car by the two Venturi channels.
Ferrari will therefore approach the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park with the technical package seen in the first two GPs of the 2022 Formula One season, but with the debut of the European season the Maranello team will also start to introduce the first technical innovations.
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This year the game will be very tactical: since the developments will be conditioned by the budget cap constraints, it will be interesting to find out when and how the rival teams will bring them on track, knowing full well that the economic availability for the changes will be contingent and the season with a calendar 23 GP will be very long.
Bringing everything immediately could be a gamble, so it may be better to introduce new things only when you are sure they actually work and can improve performance. And those who are in front today, like Ferrari and Red Bull, will have a double advantage over those who, like Mercedes, are in a hurry to chase in an attempt to close the performance gap that could be seen in the first two rounds of the 2022 Formula 1 championship.
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