What Ferrari must do to recover for the Gp Bahrain – Corriere.it

The answers must be found in a flood of data. The “sieve” began as soon as the engines shut down in the tests in Bahrain. Another has begun racing, against the clock and behind closed doors in computer roomsto understand which technical direction to take for the first GP of the season, this weekend on the same track in the desert.

What Ferrari lacks to start the World Championship on the right foot, with a win? Red Bull has emerged with arrogance, Sergio Perez’s ability to take it to the limit has not escaped, the Mexican was struggling a lot last year compared to Max Verstappen. It’s a worrying sign on the balance of the championship, but how much remains to be seen.

Serious fears were visible on the faces of the adversariesalso on those of the Cavallino technicians: the front lines, together with Fred Vasseur, have returned to the base to carry on a job crossing of the numbers collected on the track. They should be compared with the “basic” package, i.e. with wind tunnel data, CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and simulator calculations on which the SF-23 was designed. The correlations must be verified and formulas elaborated capable of unlocking the hidden potential of the new Red. It is a subtle alchemy that passes through the search for the ideal set-up, the one that according to Charles Leclerc has not yet been found.

It is a process that goes by trial and error and passes through aerodynamic and mechanical micro-variations, to be “baptized” in the simulator in view of Sunday’s race. It seems that one of Red Bull’s secrets is in being able to make the car turn at a minimum height from the ground, perhaps thanks to unpublished discoveries that allow ground effect to be exploited even better. The rivals have not yet figured out where the magic is. Hopes could depend on millimeter changes of the reds, judged competitive on the flying lap (for pole) but not on the race distance.

The first verdicts on tire wear hang on the side of Verstappen and Perez, according to Vasseur, however, are partial and incomplete references. For the different times and climatic conditions in which the Gp will be raced (at sunset, under artificial lights), but also because Sakhir is a constantly evolving track. The French then spoke of “a good starting point”, how good? The reliability of the engine doesn’t worry at the moment (2,257 km, first team among the big ones for mileage) and the real power of the 2023 power unit has not yet been seen.

But many small mishaps have to be sorted out, consequences of a «extremes» of the details, Ferrari expects to be able to manage them. The DRS actuator, for example, caused several problems: the mobile wing was redone, following the Red Bull solution, to obtain greater aerodynamic efficiency and thus increase the top speed on the straight, one of the weak points of the single-seater 2022. Construction site open, the works must be carried out in a very short time.