The development of the Ferrari F1-75 continues. After reaching the RB18 in terms of top speed, which Mattia Binotto considered as an advantage for the Austrian team that is now only “marginal”, the technical office of Maranello has approved some changes that will be introduced at the Paul Ricard weekend or the following week at the Hungaroring. It was no coincidence that Enrico Cardile was present at Silverstone, unofficially “for evaluations”.
As reported by Giuliano Duchessa and Piergiuseppe Donadoni for formu1a.uno, we must expect updates in some key points of the F1-75, such as the floor, mainly with the aim of increasing the downforce and efficiency of the package, without having to use any more disadvantageous wings compared to Red Bull. Something very important not only in view of the French circuit, where the aerodynamic balance between front and rear will be essential in order not to be limited in corner entry, but also in consideration of the back to back race in Hungary, a track that requires the maximum available load but which over the years has increased the importance of PU in lap time due to many more full throttle corners.
The F1-75 was created well because the availability of extra hours and resources was exploited properly
“The development of 2022 cars requires being resilient. Each race produces new data that help in understanding; you can expect to find performances you see in simulation if you know how the car behaves in different situations. To do this, you also need a lot of feedback on the track. Haas proved it in Austria” – a first level source told formu1a.uno. Indeed, the new cars are consistently slower than expected by over 1 second, something that shows potential still hidden in what many teams still refer to as prototypes. “In addition, there seems to be no middle ground on these new single-seaters: either an update is very visible or it is not at all [something that Mercedes did in Austria and will continue to do so in France / Hungary as well] because maybe it is hiding underneath the floor or inside the diffuser. But of course only if you do not have to correct significant errors in some conceptual element” he then concluded.
In this first season of ground effect cars we have also seen important teams such as Aston Martin and Alpine, or minor teams such as Williams, change their aerodynamics with great decision. Mercedes forced to completely rethink the wings not to mention the floor. Changes that can make things more difficult in understanding the potential of the car in the short and very short term but with greater benefits in the long term, and which were a possibility for various teams, that had studied their own cooling systems in order to change the aerodynamic concept.
Ferrari’s plan was quite clear already in winter and comes from afar: to certify that the factory / track correlation was correct. Effective development cannot be achieved if the basic assumptions are wrong. Before the end of last season, Ferrari was able to experiment with some solutions to support the development in the gallery which, however, had to be confirmed on this new type of car, which works with very different aerodynamic concepts, although in part they have been taken from the previous cars and adapted to the new concept. Something that Mercedes and Red Bull could not afford, obviously engaged in a battle to the last race of the 2021 Formula One championship. A job, that has also become a strategy, which has undoubtedly allowed Ferrari to start the current season with a competitive margin and work during the first six months essentially to extract the best potential from the car. Many insiders were amazed that the car continued to be strong with no new parts.
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Something will now change. In the second part of the season, more innovations will be introduced than in the first part, also in favor of the 675 project (2023). Meanwhile the car has been constantly improving. In Austria, Charles Leclerc handled the problem of the open accelerator well, which was costing him up to 6 tenths per lap. In fact, his driving style suffers less as Charles usually brakes early to go on the gas first, checking the rear. In addition, the F1-75 can now afford to drop more quickly when exiting the corners by quickly increasing the floor downforce values, helping the car not to break down under acceleration. This is because the F1-75 car is running with softer, albeit much stiffer, suspension than the previous generation of cars.
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