Formula 1 2022 lands on the fantastic Silverstone track and the weekend immediately promises to be interesting. We noticed a number of general aspects during the course of the second free practice session (the first under the deluge was totally meaningless), but the main one is that with these new cars it seems that the difficult English track is more demanding. pilots, with the guide that has a greater weight in the final result than in past years. However, the British track represents a very important testing ground mainly for cars, and therefore the search for the optimal set-up remains the key to performance. In this Ferrari seemed to have an advantage. Confirmation also arrives on Friday in England that Maranello’s simulation work and track-data correlation is among the best and the two F1-75s took to the track fast and right from the start, despite a series of changes and updates, albeit not revolutionaries. Both Sainz and Leclerc brought the medium / low load wing used by the Monegasque to the track in the last Canadian Grand Prix and the car however proved to be well balanced and very fast. Sainz easily found the best time, despite an important mistake coming out of the Chapel corner, while Leclerc had to settle for fifth place, but with a time obtained with medium tires. Car number 16 suffered from some problems at the steering wheel monitor of which Leclerc complained that they tended to distract him in the running round, along with some problems with the Power Unit settings, which is why he was unable to put together the ride with soft rubber. Rather than repairing a minor fault e waste timefrom the box of the Maranello team it was preferred to continue the program with long runs and collect valuable data in view of the race.
Second behind Sainz he came in surprisingly Lewis Hamilton with a Mercedes which brought important changes to the track that (in part) seem to have worked. Only fourth then the world leader Max Verstappen, however close to all those who precede it. We collected the Dutchman’s own data and compared it with Sainz’s lap to get some more information.
If in the first few meters of the session the Ferrari seemed more on the ball in the fast corners, looking at the best performances of the day it emerges that Red Bull seems slightly better in the changes of direction to be faced almost in full, like those of the first two corners. When the speed drops, however, Sainz makes an important difference and in the slow sections of the first half of the lap he gains about 2 tenths on Verstappen with a lot more minimum speed and a good starting point when exiting the corners. There Copse curve it will be one challenge for the riders this year, and for now we have seen everyone turn up between 20 and 30% of the accelerator pedal, even if they will probably face it in full in qualifying. Here Sainz even touches the brake and for the whole next stretch Verstappen is faster, including the very fast sequence of Maggots-Becketts-Chapel. Just off the Chapel Sainz has a large rear “snap”, which forces him to lift his foot from the gas a lot and even touch the brake, then remaining late even for the next extension until the braking of the Stowe curve. All this makes Sainz lose a lot of time, so much so that in the central sector it is Verstappen who gains about a tenth. In the last sector the F1-75 number 55 is again more effective, especially in the braking of Stowe and the last chicane, so much so that Sainz gets back 1 tenth and a half and confirms that, despite the mistake and the rear a bit more exhausted, he is able to feel the car much more compared to past races.
A peculiarity that we have noticed is that from the exit of the curve Woodcote up to the entrance of the Maggots Verstappen never climbs past seventh gear, unlike Sainz and almost everyone else who inserts the octave. Not only that, also in the following sequence of Maggots, Becketts and Chapel the Dutch always keeps a lower gear compared to Ferrarimaking his Power Unit work a higher revs and also managing in a completely different way the accelerator, as seen from the map. If this were confirmed in qualifying it would show how different the ideal working points of the two engines are, otherwise it would be a confirmation of a completely different use of the engines during free practice sessions.
Finally arriving to the Mercedes chapter the important innovations put on the track at Silverstone seem to have given the car a better boost. The changes to the front suspension seem to have influenced the behavior of the car by making it less prone to aerodynamic instability due to transient regimes and this seemed to please Lewis Hamilton a lot. Beware of do not rush dreams of glory However. Russell’s difficulties and complaints on the flying lap show how the W13 still has it anyway a very narrow window of optimal work which still makes it very difficult to make it competitive. However, it seems that with a full tank of fuel on board, and therefore more masses and more inertia involved, the car responds more predictably and the race pace shown by the Mercedes duo was comparable to that of Ferrari and RedBull.
Let’s see how Russell (white line) with hard rubber goes to progressively improve performance, applying tough coverage to a major role in the Grand Prix. Sainz and Leclerc showed a good pace, even if the soft tire tends to “finish” very soon, and the first round remains essential to determine its duration. Verstappen was however on the times of Ferrari and Mercedes, giving a glimpse of the possibility of a three-team fight, although there are still many things to happen between now and the race. We will see the night job what it will bring: RedBull still needs to find performance, because it seemed more in trouble than Ferrari, also testified by the position of Perez. Mercedes seems to be able to play some cards to at least keep the first ones within reach out of hand, albeit with the need for things to happen line up perfectly in the scheme preferred by W13. The weekend therefore promises once again to be extremely interesting and yet to be discovered, given that the weather forecast then it can play a fundamental role between rain And temperature variations.
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