The Miami track was a favorable track for Red Bull, this time the theory also respected the practice on the track, but not only for the reasons we thought. Certainly Red Bull proved to be very strong in terms of top speed, but it turned out to be a car that manages the temperatures on the front and rear tires well and has almost no understeer. On the contrary, Ferrari on the race pace showed that it suffered from a large temperature change in the tires, in fact, after the long straights in Miami, the temperature of Ferrari's tires dropped too much, creating temperature changes which were also the cause of graining on Leclerc's averages.
Hard to do better
This was one of the problems, also followed by the Ferrari's excessive drag with the use of the DRS and the rear wing, which did not allow Leclerc to attack Verstappen in the closing laps and also a car still suffering from porpoising. Despite this, Ferrari played against him on a track like Miami, conquering an excellent second and third place in the drivers' and constructors' standings. This introduction is necessary, not so much to underline Ferrari's defects, which for this weekend have not weighed excessively, but to see what needs to be corrected for Barcelona.
What will Ferrari bring to Barcelona?
The Spanish round is the one that will kick off the substantial updates that will arrive on the F1-75 from the tests in Bahrain. Until now Ferrari had limited itself to correcting porpoising and slightly reducing drag, but nothing more, while its competitor Red Bull had brought important updates such as weight reduction. For Barcelona, work is being done on trying to taper the Coca Cola area by modifying the pattern of the bellies at the rear of the car. Already during the tests in Bahrain, the Maranello team had planned during the season to modify these so wide bellies so as to lose less and less aerodynamic resistance, also working on the internal part in the radiator area. This modification to the Coca Cola zone will allow Ferrari to have more flows in the beam wing and differential zone, increasing aerodynamic efficiency.
Aerodynamic changes to come
There are also other small aerodynamic features in the front of the car to generate load and stability of the car under braking, modifications similar to that of the steering arm that we saw in Miami. Another Ferrari work is the new fund, which is still in the works and could debut in Barcelona and Munich. That will make the car make a big leap in quality by reducing ground clearance, increasing downforce, increasing top speed and making it possible to use set-ups with softer suspension to go even faster in the slow driven part.
New suspension
A new rear suspension with a new macro element that will allow Ferrari to be more efficient in managing the tires and in managing the temperatures on the rear tires will make its debut soon, but no date is confirmed yet.
It's still early to speak clearly about Barcelona, but these are the first rumors we know about and which can reassure all Ferraristi fans.
