A good foundation. The Ferrari ended its pre-season in what will be on 2022 F1 World Championship and the news is comforting in relation to the consistency and solidity demonstrated.
Overall Charles Leclerc covered 169 laps and Carlos Sainz 180, for a total of 349. If you then add to those completed in Barcelona (Spain) you get to almost 4000 km for the F1-75 with the same engine, without any critical signs, also finding a valid solution to pumping .
In addition, the Red team showed balance and consistency in its pace on the track as confirmed by the excellent race pace of the last session of Leclerc along the lines of that of Max Verstappen. Here, let’s face it, Red Bull presents itself as the favorite for the first round, evaluating the extent of their times and also the ability to update an already innovative project. We refer to the fund and bellies modified today.
F1, Mercedes cannot be judged in the Test. It seems behind Red Bull and Ferrari, but watch out for the hide-and-seek effect …
Here the extreme concepts of Adrian Newey can be scary, like those of Mercedes. The W13 wanted to raise the bar. Its sides have been literally miniaturized, following the aerodynamic concept already expressed by the Williams FW44, but taking even more extreme than what was done on the Grove car. As reported by Giorgio Piola of Motorsport.com, Mercedes kept the safety cone out of the side and transformed it into a real airfoil, separating it from the belly which has undergone a significant reduction to have less resistance to the advancement. At the moment there is still no full knowledge, but the feeling is that when they find the synthesis in Brackley it will not be easy to beat them.
Ferrari, however, followed an opposite but equally courageous philosophy: long and spoon-shaped bellies to have a lot of downforce to create a real hollow inside which the air enters and is projected upwards in the rear area. An aspect that on paper should help the F1-75 on the more driven sections because the aim is to generate a lot of load in the center of the car and then unload the wings. It is no coincidence that the Rossa has a slightly curved nose.
Differently extreme and sophisticated concepts that had already been talked about during the presentation and that the track could reward. All that remains is to wait.
Foto: LiveMedia/Antonin Vincent/DPPI