Ferrari enters this weekend’s French Grand Prix boosted by an Austrian race in which it looked to have a faster Formula 1 vehicle than Red Bull, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz having much faster race speed than Max Verstappen.
In terms of overall performance, Red Bull’s race at their home track was its poorest of the 2022 season, owing primarily to poor tyre management in comparison to the Ferrari F1-75.
So Ferrari, having snapped a six-race winless streak the previous weekend at Silverstone, made it two wins in a row at the Red Bull Ring. The Austrian venue was expected to be much more favorable to the Red Bull due to the prevalence of straights, especially in the first sector.
However, Ferrari has demonstrated that the straight line speed deficit that existed at the start of the year as compared to Red Bull has been virtually eliminated.
Since the Spanish GP, Ferrari’s straight-line speed has increased owing to a new design idea with rear wings with a DRS that has less drag when open.
In Austria, Leclerc passed Verstappen three times, and despite having DRS, the champion was unable to fight back against the Ferrari. This demonstrates how far the Ferrari F1-75 has come in this regard.
Ferrari and Red Bull’s growth trajectories have remained highly different, even opposing in certain aspects. However, Ferrari has mainly remained to its original design and has only made a few minor changes.
In addition to the rear wing introduced in Canada and later used in both Silverstone and Austria, Ferrari has tried to reduce drag by slightly increasing the undercut in the underside of the sidepods in a package introduced at Silverstone.
prix for engine cooling due to the less dense air at altitude. We don’t know exactly what happened to Sainz’s V6, but Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto suggested it was likely similar to the failure Leclerc suffered in Baku.
Ferrari has sought to minimize drag by significantly increasing the undercut in the underside of the sidepods in a package released at Silverstone, in addition to the rear wing debuted in Canada and afterward utilized in both Silverstone and Austria.
Because of the less dense air at altitude, the price for engine cooling is higher. We don’t know what happened to Sainz’s V6, but Ferrari team president Mattia Binotto believes it was a similar failure to the one Leclerc experienced in Baku.
At this weekend’s French Grand Prix, Sainz will almost definitely face a penalty for using a fourth power unit. However, despite the fact that Ferrari plainly has troubles in this area, Binotto has been evasive thus far. Red Bull also continues to deploy changes at each race and is altering its aerodynamic philosophy from the start of the year.
The RB18’s performance in Austria was heavily influenced by tyre degradation, with Verstappen complaining of continuous changes in his car’s balance, first understeering and then becoming more oversteer as the rear tyres lost grip.
The Ferraris were closing in on Verstappen at the finish of the sprint race.
The floor is the most essential aerodynamic part in this new generation of ground-effect F1 vehicles, capable of creating much of the overall downforce while generating very little drag.
Red Bull has already addressed this region with alterations implemented in Azerbaijan last month, shifting the openings back to elevate the wide top lip to boost airflow. This came at the cost of a little increase in drag.
Despite ongoing improvements to the RB18, there has been little change in the relative performance of Red Bull and Ferrari – but Austria was Red Bull’s greatest failure of the season in terms of pace. After Sainz’s retirement, Verstappen’s second position and best lap at least mitigated the damage.
While Red Bull continues to push new parts, Ferrari has made relatively minor changes to the idea it began the year with, addressing some of its issues.
Because Paul Ricard is a more front-limited circuit than the Red Bull Ring this weekend, the French GP may favor Red Bull over Ferrari, which performs far better on courses where traction matters. But may Ferrari defy expectations once more?
