Formula 1: What’s behind the unexpected appearance of the Ferrari F1-75 in Monza

Formula 1 teams are entitled to two days of video footage each year for the needs of their sponsors – and Scuderia Ferrari has just deployed the second of these at the Monza circuit in northern Italy. The Italian team uploaded a photo to Twitter with Charles Leclerc in the cockpit and captioned it “day of video recording. The focus is now on Barcelona next weekend“.

According to FIA regulations, each team has the right to cover up to 100 kilometers on one day of shooting, which corresponds to 17 laps of the Monza circuit. In addition, he does not have the right to use the normal racing tires, but special tires with completely different characteristics that Pirelli has made for the occasion.

Scuderia gave no further details on the day of filming in Monza but has already confirmed – through manager Mattia Binoto – that they will host a number of key F1-75 events at the Spanish GP in Barcelona next weekend (22-23 May). will have upgrades . ).

With the progress made by the Red Bull RB18 over the last two races, the need for these upgrades to roll out becomes even more urgent. According to Binoto, the upgrades to Ferrari’s great rival’s car, which among other things reduced the increased weight of the RB18, have now made the last 1-2 tenths faster around the lap than the Ferrari F1-75.

Since the first F1 winter tests last February, the Scuderia has so far made almost no major changes to their car. However, in many of the free trials of this year’s five GPs so far it has attempted to use a soil modifying additive to counteract the porpoise effect.

The “war” of developing this year’s RBR and Ferrari cars has the major obstacle of each team’s annual budget limit – €140 million. Ferrari estimate Red Bull Racing’s past spending rate cannot continue at this spending limit, but Helmut Marco claims Milton Keynes’ team is not concerned about that.

Matthias Binotto admitted that “In order to keep up with the pace, we need to evolve and introduce upgradesin F1-75, and that moment will come in the next, 6th race of the year at the Catalonia track.One of these improvements is the redesigned rear of the floor, which is expected to solve much of the rebound problem – these are particularly strong in F1-75, although not as time consuming as in Mercedes.

“In the next few races it will be our turn to improve [το αυτοκίνητο] as much as we can by introducing its upgrades. In Barcelona we will have a number of upgrades that will be important for us“How important it is,” said Binotto.

As Charles Leclerc said after Miami, it’s important for the Scuderia to find a way to better manage the soft and medium rubber in racing – because it’s an area where RBR and Max Ferstappen are clearly superior. It is therefore possible that Barcelona’s upgrades will also address this issue.

Barcelona’s development could focus on another spot F1-75 lacks: on the rear wing. The current one is largely responsible for the significant delay in final speed of the RB18 on the straights. “The Red Bull is very good in that regard and was very good in the mid-range as they were just as quick as us in very slow corners“Binoto said after the Miami GP.

“We need to analyze and understand why this is happening. And I just think in the last couple of races they had upgrades that made their car faster‘ the Italian concluded.