“Red Bull is two tenths ahead, now it’s up to us to develop.” – Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto, at the end of the Miami Grand Prix, tried to quantify how much Red Bull was ahead in terms of race pace as compared to the Italian side based on the data gathered at the Miami International Autodrome in Florida. During the last few weeks, the Maranello technicians have been working on finalizing a new update package which was also tested in Monza on the occasion of the filming day held last Friday, the second of the two available during a season (the first filming day took place at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona ahead of the pre-season testing session).
The Spanish Grand Prix is a key stage throughout the championship because it is the weekend in which the most substantial updates on the cars are traditionally introduced and Ferrari has in store a new floor and other aerodynamic innovations with the goal of reducing the gap to Red Bull, who was clearly faster in the last two races of the 2022 Formula One season, at Imola and Miami.
Red Bull will respond with a second update package that will further reduce the weight of its RB18 car, but at the same time, Ferrari is also expected to introduce some new components which will help reduce the weight of the F1-75 by at least 2 kg. On paper, the Montmelò track should enhance Ferrari’s performance in fast corners where downforce counts, such as the long corner 3 and the very fast Turn 9.
Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey expects a ‘counterattack’ from the Maranello team not only in Barcelona, but in general during the season: “Already in 2021 we understood that a weekend of domination can be followed by bitter defeats – said Adrian Newey, who took part in the Formula Nation podcast – “In Austria and Mexico, for example, one year ago we seemed invincible and then in the next race it wasn’t like that. I expect a performance ‘pendulum’ two swing between us and Ferrari during this 2022 season.” – he added.
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Adrian Newey also stressed that talking about Red Bull’s clear superiority in Miami is an exaggeration: “The asphalt was very special because they used granite as a substrate and this triggered a different behavior of the tires compared to the first four races. No one had any idea how the race would actually because the Friday practice sessions were interrupted by many red flags. The Miami win was a surprise, we can’t say that things are looking good for us. It is certainly not the time to relax, but to work even harder.” – the Red Bull chief technical officer concluded.
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