After the great start of the 2022 Formula 1 season for Scuderia Ferrari, with two races wins for Charles Leclerc in Bahrain and Australia, the momentum has shifted in Red Bull’s favour, as the Austrian team won the last two rounds of the championship, in Italy and at the Miami International Autodrome.
In Melbourne, Ferrari pushed the team led by Christian Horner, with Max Verstappen who recorded his second DNF of the championship in the first three races, problems that helped Charles Leclerc build a solid 46 point-gap over his Dutch rival in the Formula 1 Driver Standings.
What followed was a rather disappointing two events for the Maranello team, especially in Italy, starting with the first Sprint Race of 2022 that was held in Imola. Max Verstappen was able to secure the maximum of points (victories while also taking he two fastest laps available) and therefore reduced the gap to the Monegasque driver to just 19 points. Above all, Red Bull highlighted proved to be faster than the Ferrari F1-75 car on two completely different tracks, with better tyre management especially on the softer compounds.
On the other hand, in Maranello, before introducing the first major updates for the season, the engineers focused on soliving the porpoising problem, the aerodynamic bouncing on the straight, which in Florida was clearly less evident than in previous events.
The team principal of the Italian side, Mattia Binotto, pointed out after the Miami Grand Prix that at the moment Red Bull has about two-tenths of an advantage over Ferrari in race pace and in certain conditions. “Now it is up to us to develop the car, they have already done it and I expect that they cannot keep this pace due to the budget cap”, the words of the Ferrari boss, who ahead of the start of the 2022 Formula 1 campaign had indicated that at least five races were necessary before being able to accurately assess the competitiveness of each car given the new rules and regulations for the current championship.
For now, the Maranello team remains on top of the Formula 1 Driver and Constructor Standings, but it is clear that Ferrari needs to improve in order to challenge Red Bull in the following races.
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According to today’s edition of the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, the package of updates planned for Barcelona involves the performance heart of the 2022 single-seaters, namely the floor, which must work in symbiosis with the wings. “The most important problem for the F1-75 in comparison with the RB18 was the degradation of the medium compound tires – writes Paolo Filisetti – an effect of the reduced grip induced by the aerodynamic load generated by the floor of the car. The decision to adopt flat wings on this track highlighted how much Ferrari, in this respect, is clearly less effective than Red Bull. A weakness that could be resolved with the introduction of the new floor planned for Barcelona, eliminating the efficiency gap that separates the two cars ” – the article informs.
The floor will have changes with skids placed diagonally to the side of the Venturi channels, which are changes inspired by the Red Bull design, after the Austrian team also drew some ‘inspirations’ from Ferrari. Most notably, Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey has been seen many times checking out the Ferrari F1-75 cars on the starting grid this season.
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