I sincerely envy those who, after three days of winter testing, have already understood everything. Much more modestly, I happen to speak to experts who, for their part, argue that so far little has been understood about how the forces in the field are put in place from the performance point of view. Waiting for Bahrain, however, punctual as the swallows, the first inferences about Ferrari and its engine have already arrived. A seasonal tradition that never fails and that, for the most part, is entrusted to those who, in theory, should know less about Ferrari itself, namely its direct opponents. I don’t know if you have noticed, but compared to the war propaganda that is flooding us in these lousy days, Formula 1 (sport in general, I would say) moves in the opposite direction. There they boast their own successes and minimize those of the enemy, here instead they tend to exalt the opponent. But basically the purpose is the same: to create pressure on others and take it off your shoulders.
Hence, the stainless Hellmouth Marko did not hold back and immediately said that, apparently, the 066/7 mounted on the F1-75 would be the best of the lot. How he managed to find out, only he knows, given that even in Maranello they haven’t quite got an idea. At the Circuit de Catalunya neither Leclerc nor Sainz really exploited the full potential of their hybrid six-cylinder. Partly because there were still doubts related to reliability, partly because the purpose of the tests was above all to test a variety of setups, from the most rigid to the softest. An experimental work that requires you to travel many kilometers without spending hours locked up in the garage, as for example the Red Bull did (which also broke a gearbox, but I haven’t heard this from Marko). And a job made necessary by the changes in regulations, which required a program of regulations that was broader than usual. Also because – but I understand this has happened to all, or almost all – when Charles and Carlos came out of the pits for the first test ‘runs’, the first comment on the radio was more or less “but you are sure that this is the same car that you shot on the simulator? “. I know, there is a risk of triggering the usual catchphrase about the lack of correlation of the data: but, I repeat, this time it is certainly not just a Ferrari problem. The dolphin effect surprised everyone a bit, even if an unknown question remains to be clarified: it is okay that the wind tunnel treadmill is more flexible than the asphalt and may have provided different data, but the simulators do not have it. ‘have, the carpet. And being virtual, I don’t think they were set to “muddy” or “rubbery asphalt” …
However, once the beast happened, the Ferrari drivers immediately judged it positively. The great advantage, to be confirmed in Sakhir, would be that of a certain versatility of use. But we always talk about chassis and aerodynamics. The power of the engine has not yet been seen, at least not entirely. Someone will object that today the ‘extreme’ mappings cannot be used anymore; but there are still a myriad of parameters that can be varied. First of all, with more than half a tank of petrol on board, you are simulating a racing condition. And then there is the engine brake, the ignition of the turbo, the amount of energy to be recovered under braking and much more. What is certain is that Gualtieri & Co., By setting up the project, have decided to complicate their life. But they did it with a methodical approach that involved colleagues from the ERS department. A process that lasted more than a year, started on the SF21 with an intercooler of a different shape and continued with a completely new energy recovery system, to the point of being incompatible with certain solutions of the past. Process completed this year with a different arrangement of the turbine / compressor unit and above all with a different combustion system. So different that it requires new parameters of distribution timing, advance and so on. Adding complication to complication, then, came the E10 petrol, the so-called ecological fuels containing a percentage of ethanol. Which, in addition to being more volatile, also require to intervene on the combustion parameters. If the Ferrari engine department has decided to tackle this puzzle, which had already caused trouble at the time of the “ultrafast” studied at length and never put into the car, it means that the advantages are decisive. But these advantages, with all due respect for his friend Hellmouth, were not seen in the T1 session, or rather in Montmelò.
And then, inevitably, we will see them in Bahrain. Where Ferrari, like all other teams, will have to check their potential on the pitch. Historically, the Red is a little more “sincere” than others when it comes to looking for pure performance, or the qualifying lap. Low petrol, soft compounds, SOC at minimum (i.e. full power and no recovery). When, in 2017, an attempt was made to disguise Vettel’s performance in what would have been an all-fuchsia ride in Barcelona, it was done in the most obvious and recognizable way in the universe: by asking Seb to lift his foot off the gas first. of the finish line. But in Sakhir the drivers will need to understand what they are driving, especially on the track that will open the world championship after a few days. And even more interesting than the qualifying lap will be the ‘race pace’, that is the pace of the race. Because everyone, even if at a distance or with small corrections, is interested in the direct confrontation with the designated opponents, the simulation of the GP carried out in the same conditions. And if even so it should be difficult to classify the values in the field, we can always ask Dr. Marko for guidance.
#War #race #pace #FormulaPassionit