A kind friend gave me two photos that date back to the time of the first mobile phones (they were still called that): they depict the Lambo 291, a project born with great aspirations and big names – including that of Mauro Forghieri – but which danced only one summer, and not too well. The first images of the Mercedes W13 “definitive” and the message was very clear: given that the sides reduced to the bone are not a guarantee of competitiveness? Since I am old and boring, I also went to dig up the memories of the Brabham ’78 equipped with ‘touch’ panels to integrate the traditional radiators. Another extreme concept, developed by Gordon Murray and based on aviation technology, whose failure proved once more that what works in the sky is not necessarily good for asphalt. More than anything else, however, and with all the distinctions of the case, it seems to me that the most difficult concept to swallow, for the top teams, this year is still that of budget cap. If in Mercedes they did the first tests with a ‘fake’ single-seater so as not to give any information to the competition until the very end, it means that they spent money for nothing. If, on the other hand, the characteristic pieces of the super thin single-seater were not ready… ditto. We have one certainty, and it is that in Maranello – and I suppose also in Milton Keynes, Red Bull headquarters – they knew very well what the wonderful idea that James Allison had put in his head was. I just hope that Ferrari didn’t panic like in 2017, when it turned out that rivals had made a very long car while the Red was (relatively) short. The road to becoming great also passes through self-confidencefor the awareness that it is not always ‘the others’ who have had the best idea.
For now, the best judgment parameter is not the chronometer but the camera car: and during the Sakhir tests it was seen that the driveability of the W13 still needs to be improved. I think apart from the porpoising, which will be remedied by stiffening the bottom (with a further increase in weight …) for all the greatest difficulty is to combine the search for the load with the behavior on the straight. The ideal would be to resort to those famous flexible bottoms that were able, in speed, to detach the fluid vein so that the whole complex stalled. That is, it no longer produced load, but neither did resistance: what it takes to go fast on the forehand.
But flexible surfaces are not officially allowed and I easily join the chorus of those who hypothesize that Brackley dared a little too much. Probably, in their tradition, they can solve problems (always investing time and resources): even in recent years we have seen a Mercedes that is not perfect in winter tests turn into a beast once race-1 arrives. Let us also remember that Bahrain is above all an engine and traction track; when the ‘front limited’ circuits arrive, where the risk is understeer and the deterioration of the front tires, the music could change.
For now, the last day of testing has confirmed what everyone more or less expected, namely one RB18 with enormous potential, as opposed to a very well thought out Ferrari and already more ‘mature’. This last feature is a double-edged sword, because on the one hand it promises immediate competitiveness but on the other it could guarantee a lower margin for development. The biggest concern at the moment seems to be related to the Power Units, which have performed very well so far, but which will also have to guarantee mileage, so as not to take too many penalties over the course of the season. It will be important to make good use of the first Grands Prix of a very long season, to capitalize on the score but also because, between May and June, everyone expects internal checks on the performance of the Sport Management with respect to the announced objectives. If there were to be a negative discrepancy, it could lead to drastic decisions. But at the moment the picture looks comforting.
The drivers – I’m talking about the Ferrari ones – immediately saw that traveling in the wake of another car is relatively easy. Objective centered for the FIA (and for F1, or the commercial side) which aspired to Grand Prix richer in close duels. Personally, I still don’t understand this burst of Nascar-style overtaking, ten per lap, as if we had seen few of them in recent years. The DRS works, but in a different way than in the past and it will probably be less useful. Where, on the other hand, it seems to me that no progress has been made, is in re-assembling the group from a performance point of view. In 2021 there were three teams in front of everyone (four, if we count the McLaren which, however, was lost along the way) and we find the same three teams, at least for now, in 2022. In reality, I fear that the unexpected differentiation in the projects retraces a cliché already seen at each change of regulation, namely: the strong become even stronger and the weak trudge as much and more than before. And speaking of design fantasies I would just like to add one thing: Ross Brawn who says “we did not expect the Mercedes concept”You just can’t feel it. See you next weekend.
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