A fundamental weekend to measure the values of the forces in the field after the ‘sack’ of the Red Bull Ring by a Ferrari F1-75 stopped only by reliability problems, which this time forced Carlos Sainz to retire, while Charles Leclerc was forced to surrender as leader of the race in the face of the breakdowns of the power unit both in Barcelona and Baku.
In France, Red Bull must find itself and respond to an Austrian weekend that turned into a nightmare in the race, where Max Verstappen was helpless in the light of tire degradation that has always made him a very easy prey for Charles Leclerc. The final result, that is second place with fastest lap combined with victory 24 hours before the Sprint, minimized the Ferrari driver’s point gain, but in front of an F1-75 like this. 38 points advantage they do not represent a margin to sleep peacefully, on the contrary.
As he has already pointed out several times, Verstappen does not find the position of being leader of the classification ‘comfortable’ when the opponents have a much higher speed, a situation experienced in the final of 2021, where Hamilton and Mercedes seemed irrepressible until controversial final in Abu Dhabi. “Our lead in the standings does not give any guarantee of victory – the words of the reigning world champion – so far we have not had dominant weekends, at the beginning of the season we had to chase, then we took advantage of Ferrari’s reliability problems. I’m not saying Ferrari is the fastest car, it depends on the tracks, but overall it has had more dominant weekends than us.. We have to keep developing because the moment you think you’re good at that point then you find yourself behind ”.
There Ferrari today in free practice he will try a new fund equipped with new Venturi channels in the area in front of the bellies. The goal is to reduce the triggering of porpoising and deflect the turbulence generated by the wheels outwards to further improve resistance to advancement, a goal to which the new rear wing will also contribute.
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