Ferrari’s Cavallino straightened out. At half mast for two seasons, the Scuderia is in full resurrection at the start of the championship, which will stop in Melbourne this weekend. After two races, it occupies the lead of the constructors’ classification and Charles Leclerc sits at the top of the drivers. Well born, the F1-75 has largely benefited from the change in regulations introduced in 2022 to return to the center of the game.
“Ferrari’s DNA is to win“, hammers the team principal of the Mattia Binotto stable to anyone who will listen. Arrived in January 2019 at the helm of the Scuderia, the Italian very quickly understood that the Maranello team had a special status in the world of F1. According to Sunday’s results, Red does not have the same meaning. Red with happiness when it smiles. Red with shame when the Italian F1s trip over the carpet.
With three successes and 18 podiums the year of his induction, the boss of Ferrari was on an upward slope. A year later, he shaved the walls after finishing 6th in the constructors’ classification, his worst place since 1980. In this frantic development race behind the untouchable Mercedes, the team had gone too far in interpreting the rules.
In the eye of the storm of the FIA and other teams, the Scuderia develops an ingenious system to supercharge the Italian engine. A secret agreement signed between the International Federation and the Prancing Horse will bring the Ferraris into conformity and, on the track, the loss of more than fifty horsepower from the Mercedes engine. A ball to drag for the Reds as much as his failed SF1000. It was at the heart of this nightmarish season that the Italian team decided to begin its reconquest mission.
Even if it means dragging yourself in the middle of the pack with no chance of catching up with the competition and suffering some humiliation, you might as well launch your design office directly on the new regulations supposed to revolutionize F1 from 2021, and finally postponed to 2022. With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ferrari have had two seasons to polish their comeback. To regain a world title that has eluded it since 2008 (constructors), Ferrari has used the year 2021 as a first launching pad. It started with its new engine introduced during the second half of the season.
“Knowing that from this year the engines are frozen for four years, it was obviously important to start with a power unit at the level of those of our rivals“, Binotto explained before the first Grand Prix in Bahrain. “At the end of last season we were 20-25 horsepower behind, so the first goal was to close that gap.“
In view of the two qualifying sessions at Sakhir (pole for Leclerc) and Jeddah (2nd and 3rd time), the Italian engine has returned to the level of the frontrunners and could even have overtaken them. Even the customer teams, relegated to the back of the grid in recent seasons and now regularly in the top 10, benefit from it, like the Haas and Alfa Romeo.It is certain that we are not behind, and we are even perhaps a little in front. But this is not a firm conclusion“, tempered Binotto.
On the chassis, whose regulations have changed in depth, the progress is significant. The F1-75 is quite daring in its design and its technical choices, the most visible parts of which are the pointed nose, the hollow sidepods and the air intakes. Choices validated very quickly on the track. With nearly 800 laps completed at Fiorano this winter, the car has shown welcome reliability. “It’s definitely one of the easiest preparations I’ve had before a season.“, recognizes the Monegasque Charles Leclerc. “No major issues [alors que]especially on such a new project, you always expect to find obstacles.”
And the moment you’ve been waiting for… #BahrainGP wallpapers ✨#essereFerrari pic.twitter.com/mYgP04uq47
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 23, 2022
Above all, Ferrari very quickly pinpointed the “porpoising” phenomenon (bouncing of single-seaters on the straights) encountered by all the teams. “We made some changes for that, just indicated Binotto who is now thinking of optimizing his car. These cars are so different from the past that you have to understand them before you realize their full potential. It’s in progress. There’s more to take from the current package. We focus on that before bringing developments during the season.“
Thanks to its double in Bahrain, the first victory since 2019, and its double podium in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Ferrari now has a little margin over the competition before making the first changes to its single-seaters. A comfortable position since the limitation of the budget ceiling constrains the teams in their evolutions over the season. In this little game, the advantage is always with the one who keeps some under the foot. Mercedes understood this very well. But the Silver Arrows may have found their master this season. They monopolize the podiums and they are Red.