The most important news on the technical front for Scuderia Ferrari from the first day of track action at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet concerns the new floor, mounted by the Maranello team on both F1-75 cars and therefore changing the initial planning.
The new macro component should have made its debut on both cars in Hungary, with only one part initially present in France for data collection on Friday. However, an incredible job was carried out in Maranello to bring a second part, which arrived only on Friday morning, a few hours therefore before the start of free practice. After the very positive evaluations in the first free practice session, the new floor was also mounted on the F1-75 of Carlos Sainz for FP2 at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
“It was a positive day” – said Carlos Sainz after the second free practice session for the 2022 French Grand Prix – “The updates seem to work well and the car has been fast”. Encouraging statements that confirm the positive feedback from a certainly important update which concerned the most important areas of these 2022 Formula 1 cars, namely the entrance and the lower part of the floor.
The changes to the Venturi inputs are numerous and almost radical compared to the old specification. The large external drift for the outwash has a different shape in the lower area, with a more arched perimeter. The most important change remains that of the transverse shape of the initial duct, clearly lowered in the outermost area to reduce the air flow in that area, favoring the passage instead in the upper edge, i.e. in the undercut area below the sidepods.
“Our pace on the flying lap is promising while we have to work on the race pace” said Charles Leclerc at the end of the day as he then reiterated what he said at the start of the weekend. “In this Grand Prix, tire management will be fundamental given the high temperatures expected over the weekend”. It is precisely in this aspect that Ferrari will have to work to eliminate that annoying graining that emerged in the long runs, especially on the front left. “We know where we need to improve, so I am confident that on Sunday we will be adequately prepared” concluded the Monegasque driver.
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While the excellent competitiveness of the F1-75 seems to also be confirmed in France, there are fewer certainties regarding the reliability of the power unit as fears of further reliability problems remain big. From the point of view of cooling, Ferrari confirmed the choice made at the Red Bull Ring two weeks ago, namely the most efficient combination of the engine cover in the central vent, introduced at Silverstone, with the gills more open in order to allow the hot air to flow more effectively.
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