What’s wrong with Ferrari?

In the trials of Barcelona last February and you will notice that fear. “The car runs very well. There is only one doubt: the possible damage to the engine when they squeeze it hard”, a paddock staff told this newspaper. The start of the season, however, seemed rosy for Ferrari. They started with the fastest car, the lowest and had great tire reliability. And their main rival, Red Bull, seems to be in deep water after suffering some retirement. But in a year of regulatory change. Verstappen he retired in two of the first three races and Pérez in one of them. But from Imola, everything changed. At the time, we warned him: it looks great for Leclerc and Ferrari, but there are three important questions that remain to be resolved:Can Ferrari beat Red Bull in the year -round car development race? Will Ferrari be able to maintain its reliability when its engine is pressed? Will Ferrari find themselves when things get tough against Red Bull in terms of strategies and racing decisions?

The answer to those three questions will decide the title for his side or for Red Bull. In Australia, Ferrari and Leclerc seem unmatched. And now, just five races later, the Maranello team can’t stop the elves from growing.

total rollover

After the appointment of melbourne, Leclerc He led the World Cup with a 34 -point advantage against second -placed George Russell. His advantage over Pérez was 41 points and against Verstappen was 46 points. Just 5 races later, Verstappen leading to world and Pérez was second, and the Dutchman took 34 points from Charles. Red Bull turned the tables.

car evolution

All this, after Red Bull presented some important improvements to Imola. He improved the aerodynamics of the car, and after understanding that the problem that affected him was related to the fuel system, they found the shrinkage and resolved it, showing the reaction of the champions. Since then, Red Bull has been scary straight, and not only that, it has been able to win in areas that are theoretically in favor of Ferrari, such as Emilia Romagna.

Ferrari responded with its first major upgrade package in Barcelona and now the two cars look closely compatible, but Red Bull once again showed better speed and less tire damage in Baku. So far, Red Bull could have won that evolutionary race, but Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has already said he doesn’t expect Milton Keynes to reach the budget limit if they continue to make too many improvements. It is necessary to see if Red Bull needs to pause its development so as not to break the budget limit and if Ferrari will have more room for improvement compared to its rivals for the rest of the course. .

The engine: from Red Bull problems to Ferrari

As the races progressed, teams had to raise the bar on their machines. And there the Italians began to sink.

Sa Barcelona, Leclerc broke the engine when he was leading and in Baku there was another breakdown for which there is still no answer, as the engine will be inspected on Tuesday. In Barcelona they broke turbo and MGU-H, which means Ferrari had to use the third unit of these elements in Monaco, thus reaching the limit for the entire year. From having a reunion of new elements Canada, Charles will punish the grid. Meanwhile, the situation is different red bullwho competed in the first 7 races with the same machine, who rode second in Baku.

And the worst is that reliability problems also affect client computers, something that suggests that shrinkage is important. boots Y zhou (Alfa Romeo) has already had problems in Barcelona, ​​although with a different breakdown than Leclerc. And in MonacoValtteri Bottas he missed almost every first practice session because of a problem with the Ferrari power unit, and in the race the engine reliability was affected. Magnussen, who withdrew from Baku due to another mechanical accident. In fact, Haas’ boss, Gunter Steinerhe assured then Monaco GP that the reliability of Ferrari’s engines is “a slightly bigger concern”.

Ferrari, like all motorcyclists, decided to go for the highest number of horses before the engines froze at the beginning of March for the next four years. As a result, all motorcyclists thought they could suffer. They were in Red Bull, but they resolved them quickly. Now Ferrari must do the same to show the force of reaction a champion needs. The FIA it only allows engine evolutions to improve reliability issues, and indirectly, it can also improve power unit performance and its speed. A few days ago a rumor surfaced that Ferrari was preparing improvements for Silverstone of its hybrid engine system that should give it reliability and strength, a step forward that will be allowed despite the freezing of the engines according to regulations.

the last doubt

Added to this are the doubts we pointed out earlier: Will Ferrari maintain the level when things get tighter against Red Bull in terms of strategies, pit stops and racing decisions? The Monaco GP is a clear example of how many Ferraris must continue to develop in order not to err on the wall worth points.

red bull It’s a team capable of beating Verstappen in the best group of history, Mercedes. So if Ferrari wants to get into the ring with people who drink energy without KO after a few rounds, he has to do everything perfectly.