Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has confirmed that the Maranello team will not bring major upgrades for the F1-75 car in the second 2022 Formula 1 pre-season testing session which takes place next week at the Bahrain International circuit and will therefore continue to run with a mostly unchanged car, despite the fact that its direct opponents Mercedes and Red Bull are expected to bring some big upgrades.
Ferrari left Barcelona with a lot of encouraging data at the end of the testing session at the Circuit de Catalunya, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc consistently near the top of the timesheets and with plenty of laps completed during the Spanish test. But while the new F1-75 gave some positive feedback especially compared to key rivals Mercedes and Red Bull, things may go in a different direction in Bahrain if, as is suggested, the other teams will bring some updates that will work.
Paddock speculation at the Barcelona test hinted that both Red Bull and Mercedes are waiting until the Bahrain test to reveal some of their most aggressive aero solutions which they believe will allow them to start the new championship at the top.
Scuderia Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is aware of the potential that Mercedes and Red Bull have to improve, but he still thinks that his own team can further improve by better understanding the F1-75 car and thus extracting a lot more performance even without upgrades. When asked about the Maranello team’s plans for the second testing session, Mattia Binotto explained:
“It will not be much different compared to what we’ve got. I think that the first step for us will be to optimise what we have. We are still far from the best performance, not only because we are running high fuel and not the best engine mode, but simply because there is a lot to exploit more from the car itself. We are more focused on that one [extracting more pace], not only in terms of setup engineering, but as well in terms of driving style and the drivers themselves. So let’s wait, let’s see what the others will bring. Certainly as Ferrari we are always concerned on upgrades of our competitors. And I’m pretty sure they will be very, very strong by then.” – he added.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma!
Mattia Binotto confirmed the positive impressions after the Barcelona test and most importantly that the correlation between on-track performance and the data at the factory was good.
“In terms of mileage we did a lot of laps,” he said. “What is important since day one, since the first morning, is we are collecting data. I think it was important because these cars are so different and the first objective is trying to learn them. So the objective at least this [test] was really trying to map the car in all the conditions, and try to understand the correlations with the windtunnel, and the simulator. So far, we have certainly been collecting a lot of data. That correlation will be an exercise of the next days back in Maranello, and to really try to cross correlate all the data.” – the Ferrari boss concluded.
Leave a Reply