The 2022 Spanish Grand Prix which takes place this weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona will in effect be a last call for the W13. After the excellent Friday practice sessions in Miami, Mercedes has plunged back into its problems without being able to understand exactly why.
When it seemed that they had finally gotten some answers, both W13 cars took a sharp step back on Saturday and Sunday and once again suffered a gap of around a second per lap from the leading duo Red Bull – Scuderia Ferrari, also being threatened by the excellent Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas. Here the first real anti-porpoising developments are expected for Mercedes, aimed at finding stability for the car and thus allowing the technicians on the track to work, together with the drivers, to extract the potential that they continue to see in the simulators, according to formu1a.uno.
Taking into consideration this context, a negative response, as Team Principal Toto Wolff has already revealed, could lead to drastic decisions by Mercedes: “If we could go back to the old specification? I’m not ruling out anything, but I have faith in the group that created winning cars in previous years. On paper the previous project is slower and before making decisions we need to understand where we are wrong with this one. Our floor is more exposed than the others on the grid, perhaps this is what leads to greater instability. I hope we will have an answer after Barcelona so that we can then compare and ask ourselves: are we wrong or not?” – Toto Wolff, Team Principal of Mercedes, said in recent days.
On the other hand, for Scuderia Ferrari this is also a crucial moment in their fight with Red Bull, for several main reasons. The most important is of course the introduction of its first major upgrade package, which should improve the F1-75 and hopefully be able to match Red Bull in terms of race pace. The Spanish Grand Prix is important for the Maranello team also on a media level, given the fact that after many years, Ferrari once again has a Spanish driver in its line-up.
Due to Covid, last year it was not possible for Carlos Sainz to enjoy the Spanish Grand Prix in front of his home fans, who this year will certainly colour the Circuit de Catalunya stands in red. Carlos will be hoping to continue to build on the positive performance in Miami and maybe even challenge for the race win.
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More generally, the F1-75 should cope well with the characteristics of the Barcelona circuit, with rather high temperatures, as well as the aerodynamic load and the tire pressures returning to more ‘normal’ values; moreover, Ferrari is expected to introduce its first package of updates to respond to Red Bull and bring the fight back to the top on an equal footing, or even hope for an overtake in terms of race pace: “In Barcelona it will be our turn to introduce updates. If they work, it will be a nice package” – Mattia Binotto said in the Miami post-race interview, with the Ferrari boss always keeping an eye on the issue relating to the Budget Cap and developments.
There will also be a lot of interest for Aston Martin which will present its Spec-B car. There is great curiosity about how the designers of the Silverstone team decided to intervene after a very disappointing start to the 2022 Formula 1 season.
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