The third free practice session for the 2022 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya was expected to mainly provide two responses regarding the night’s work for Scuderia Ferrari and a confirmation from Mercedes. Red Bull instead – after having performed a very promising race pace simulation – had to work to find a better balance in the qualifying simulation.
The data from FP3 regarding this last question showed that Max Verstappen seems to be more at ease with his RB18 unlike Sergio Perez who in fact remains behind in terms of lap time. However, the latest answers will come in Qualifying, with Christian Horner’s team feeling confident not to try the race pace further.
Ferrari works on the setup to improve race pace.
The F1-75 yesterday proved to be very competitive on the flying lap, giving instead more of a headache to drivers and engineers regarding tire management in the race pace simulation. This morning, Laurent Mekies was keen to comment on what happened yesterday and the work that awaited Ferrari in FP3: “The updates have worked and will remain on the car, but we are still working on the setup. We will use FP3 and this weekend to understand them and use them better in the future” – he revealed during media interviews. Ferrari therefore felt satisfied with the data that emerged from the track, but now has to find the time to refine the car as best as possible with the new updates.
FP3 confirmed a brilliant F1-75 in qualifying simulation with Charles Leclerc who finished in the lead with 1.19.772 and Carlos Sainz in fifth 1.20.129, with a gap of less than 4 tenths. Between them the two Mercedes were inserted in third and fourth and Max Verstappen just 0.072 from the Monegasque. An important reference for Ferrari is Turn 9, after the quick change of direction which then leads to the second straight where it is possible to use the DRS, where Charles Leclerc was the best. That is a point where the stability and downforce that the car produces counts, allowing the driver not to take his foot off the accelerator.
Ferrari anticipated its fast runs compared to its rivals, also because the plans were to perform a long run to get answers on the work done during the night precisely to improve this factor. The feedback was positive both from the driver’s feeling, expressed through the radio team, and then with the times set on the track. Both of them started with a time of 1.25.1 and then gradually began to raise their times towards an average of 1.25 high, with the specific request from the pit wall to study the tire management phase and perform the Lift & Cost action. However, the degradation seemed to be under control, as indicated by the Spaniard’s stint who was more regular and managed to wear the tire less than what happened yesterday in FP2. At the end of the session then, after a round of cooldown requested by race engineer Xavier Marcos, Charles Leclerc was able to push immediately returning to low 1.25, thus confirming the progress made on the front of the setup.
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Scuderia Ferrari did the high fuel simulation runs with ~20kg more fuel than what is normally used in FP3, in order to be able to test tyre management and setup changes carried out during the night, as confirmed by Paolo D’Alessandro and Giuliano Duchessa for formu1a.uno.
Yesterday the biggest problem was the higher than expected thermal wear caused by the wheels slipping. Thanks also to the work done on the simulator in Maranello, Ferrari changed the car’s balance by protecting the rear, then slightly increasing the load on the front axle.
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