Europe is sweltering and the more south you go in this period, the heat intensifies setting up a race weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet that looks to be the hottest of the 2022 Formula 1 season so far. For the 2022 French Grand Prix, the temperatures are expected to get close to 40 degrees Celsius and this will be a key aspect for all teams in this first leg of the pre-summer-break double-header, with the race in Hungary expected to take place in similar conditions next week.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will be hoping to get the most out of the last two races in July ahead of the summer break, with Scuderia Ferrari looking to continue the positive run after the two race wins in the British Grand Prx at the Silverstone circuit and last time out in Austria.
The Italian side is now focused on the French Grand Prix and the weather conditions in France will be very important as Ferrari aero boss Diego Tondi explained in the Maranello team’s preview. Here is his full interview:
Can you tell us about your job, how you came to work for Ferrari and why you love motorsport?
Diego Tondi: “I joined Ferrari in 2007 and then the Scuderia in 2008. Within the Aerodynamics department I have undertaken a variety of tasks, from testing in the wind tunnel to CFD development and today I am head of aerodynamic development. My love of motorsport dates back over 35 years to when I was a child watching the Grands Prix on television with my father. My interest grew and, at university, I understood how aerodynamic development is one of the major contributors to the performance of a Formula 1 car, so I decided to study this topic in great detail. The long-standing relationship between the department at the University of Pisa and Ferrari turned out to be the path that led me to Maranello”.
What is the Paul Ricard circuit like from an aerodynamic perspective?
Diego Tondi: “From an aero point of view, Paul Ricard has a wide variety of corner types, some very slow like turn 15 and others very fast such as 7 and 10. Despite that, it’s one of the tracks where aerodynamic downforce is a major factor in terms of lap time. Our simulation work shows that the optimum compromise is a medium downforce set-up, mainly because of the very long straights. This season in particular, with these new cars, we will have to look at the small details to find the optimal set-up that will then allow us to get the most out of the car”.
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We are expecting very hot conditions. What countermeasures can be put in place to help the car in this extreme situation?
Diego Tondi: “The high temperatures predicted for the French Grand Prix this weekend mean that ensuring the power unit and the tyres perform at their best is a real challenge and it’s up to those working on the aerodynamics to take the appropriate countermeasures. We will use a medium-high level of bodywork cooling, using the apertures of the cooling gills on the upper part of the bodywork and we will work on the brake ducts to maximise rim cooling, with the aim of getting heat away from the tyres. The track characteristics mean that we would have been doing this anyway to contribute as much as possible to tyre management, but the hot conditions will make this task even more demanding. As for the brakes, there are no particularly heavy braking points, so in terms of cooling for these components, the race at Paul Ricard is not a concern”.
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