Ferrari continues to amaze with the F1-75 car: in the qualifying session for the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, a very stop and go track, was able to enhance its characteristics so much that it surprised even Max Verstappen in the fight for pole position in Sakhir. We can note a difference of 6.3 km / h in the speed trap between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in favour of the Dutchman, a sign that the Ferrari 066/7 power unit does not yet excel in maximum power where the Honda unit still looks better, while it has improved in acceleration, showing a fantastic pair that brings the red faster to top speed.
Alongside the thrust of the “Superfast” engine (a unit that has also reached a duration of almost 7,500 km on the bench test, a target of reliability, even if there are still some issues…) there is also the excellent mechanical behavior of the single-seater designed by Enrico Cardile. Engine acceleration is associated with good traction out of slow corners and the combination of the two characteristics makes the F1-75 a very formidable car.
If Red Bull dared to focus on a pull rod front suspension and push rod rear suspension, reversing last year’s designs, at Ferrari they preferred to develop well-known concepts (front push and rear pull), despite having explored the alternatives that, instead, have been discarded.
It may be that Ferrari is able to show its best at this early stage of the season, having a better prepared car and that Red Bull and Mercedes can get more satisfaction during the tuning phase. Andy Green, Aston Martin technical chief, said and repeated that these F1 cars are still “prototypes” and that the cars that we can define as definitive we will be seen between Imola and Spain, that is to say when the world championship returns to Europe.
It would not be surprising, but the credit must be given to Ferrari for being ready for the start of the season: the image of Giorgio Piola shows us the rear suspension in a special shot that, finally, shows us better what the design adopted in Maranello is.
It is interesting to note that the upper triangle is very oriented towards the front, while the lower one points towards the rear. The arrangement of the kinematics has been adapted to the needs of the ground-effect single-seaters. The pull pattern tie rod (which has been faired with a carbon skin to aid aerodynamics, while it was just a metal rod) pivots to the floor far forward, as if the internal parts of the suspension have been transferred between the engine and gearbox, while last year they were housed near the differential.
The choice was dictated by aerodynamic reasons, in order to have a very narrow transmission that allowed to have wide Venturi channels from the “elbow” of the diffuser.
The lower triangle (Ferrari has rejected the Red Bull multi-link arms) has the front element that is faired in a wing shape that also includes the drive shaft, while the rear one is connected to the last flap of the transmission, without reaching the anchoring on the deformable structure.
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What Giorgio Piola has not yet shown us is the fact that Ferrari has thought of introducing two elastic elements in the internal parts of the suspension to control the bouncing problem. On the Ferrari, in fact, both the front and the rear, in addition to the traditional torsion bars, we have seen new coil springs.
They serve in part to compensate for the harmful effects of porpoising, helping to give the F1-75 a good balance that other teams have not yet found, such as Mercedes which has strong imbalances between the two axes. Will it be enough to win the first GP against Max Verstappen? We will find out this afternoon.
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