John N
Maranello-based Ferrari has had a solid start to the 2022 F1 campaign, winning two of the first four races as it prepares for an intense fight with Red Bull. But at last weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, an upgraded Red Bull dominated – with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez bringing home a 1-2 finish. While Ferrari has elected not to bring any significant developments to its car, it says there is still no rush to do so – with it opting to simply change the downforce configuration for next week’s Miami event.
The long straights of Miami will force teams to run in a lower downforce spec, with there being a big emphasis on top speed on the straights. With Redhavehaving had the edge in the speed traps this year, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto is aware that his squad needs to deliver in such a configuration.
When asked if there will be any significant update coming for Miami, Binotto has also suggested the team will continue to make tweaks to iron out the porpoising problems it is still suffering from.
“No, we will not have the main one in Miami. But we will have new parts on the car. Because Miami is a high-speed circuit compared to the ones we have had, we will run something different. Hopefully, the level of downforce we bring to Miami is quite efficient.
But we also know that Red Bull has a good medium/low downforce package, and they will be competitive. It will be a completely new track and a new challenge, and I am curious to be there. We’re working on the porpoising, which as you can see is quite visible. We’ve got it, certainly more than Red Bull, and we need to try to get performance.
This, is poetry in motion 😍#ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/1Mf9X6Jx2P
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2022
This year, one of the critical performance differentials between Red Bull and Ferrari has been top speed. At the start of the campaign, the Ferrari was better in acceleration and low/medium speed corners, while the Red Bull had the edge in high-speed corners and end of straights. Reflecting on the differences, Binotto said: “If I look at Jeddah, certainly they were a lot faster. If I look at Bahrain, the DRS effect was undoubtedly decisive, and the way they were catching us on the straight was significant. But then, if I look at Australia, I think that they put on some downforce, and the speed was very similar between the two cars.
We know that we can improve our wings to make them more efficient, but I’m not expecting it to be an issue for particular circuits. We, as Ferrari, certainly will have new wings for medium-low downforce at the next races when necessary. And then it’s only a matter of compromise, and the compromise on what you believe is best in terms of qualifying lap time, race pace, and tire degradation.”
