“On Saturday, Red Bull decided to use a rear wing configuration with less downforce, but we confirmed the set-up with which we started the weekend. The degradation of the tires in the race was not a factor and therefore there is a bit of regret for that choice”. In this way Mattia Binotto analyzing the weekend in Saudi Arabia and highlighted that the choice made by Ferrari in terms of set-up did not pay off on Sunday in the race. “We lacked a bit of top speed”, the words of Charles Leclerc in his post-race team radio messages at the Jeddah circuit, a race which was won by Max Verstappen who did not suffer degradation in the stint with hard tires relying on a Red Bull RB18 with less downforce unloads and therefore faster in the straight sections of the Saudi circuit.
Melbourne represents a real unknown because Formula 1 has not collected data on the Albert Park track since 2019. Furthermore, the layout has been profoundly changed to make the Australian circuit smoother and faster, thus favoring overtaking (the drivers will even be able to use the DRS in four areas). Even the last sector, characterized by three slow corners, will present changes within the radius of the last changes of direction, innovations that will allow the drivers to brake less when entering corners. The actual braking sections will certainly be three, that of Turn 3, Yurn 12 and Turn 15.
As explained by formulapassion.it, all teams will have to look for the ideal compromise in terms of set-up. The cars must be agile when changing direction and not too aerodynamically loaded to take advantage of all the fast sections of the Melbourne circuit, in particular the ‘new’ one obtained by removing a chicane at Turns 9 and 10. “It is plausible that a mix will be adopted at the level of front and rear wings combined with different heights from the ground and suspension stiffness” – writes Paolo Filisetti in today’s edition of the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport about the set-up prepared for the simulator and in the factory in Maranello by Scuderia Ferrari – “in the detail, the chord of the last front flap could be the one seen in Saudi Arabia, while the adoption of the rear wing with a less accentuated spoon profile used in Bahrain seems to be a priority choice. The aim of the mix is to find the most valid compromise between smoothness and downforce, to make the most of the new layout of the track in the fastest sections, without compromising performance in the last sector”. – La Gazzetta dello Sport explains.
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