Further developments across the grid
Ferrari’s reliability and pace has marked it as one of the favourites for the early part of 2022 among some of the teams, even though the Italian squad avoided making wholesale changes to its F1-75 for the second week of testing in search of optimising what it already has. That said, it made a few tweaks to its floor, introducing a slotted addition to promote further sealing along the floor. Behind that, a smaller flap features, with a slight tunnel to it to build and tighten any floor-sealing vortices.
Mclaren introduced an overwhelmingly similar configuration to its floor, albeit with the slotted element ending in a point that will also help with vortex placement ahead of the curved flap.
“It has been a positive six days,” said Ferrari principal Mattia Binotto, “because we’re running consistently, learning a lot from the car, getting a lot of data, cross-correlating back at Maranello, windtunnel and simulator. That was the first objective and I think that we achieved it. Then in terms of performance it’s very difficult to judge.”
Pirelli’s new tyres are also throwing the F1 teams a few curveballs with regards to set-up, as the cars looked difficult to navigate around the difficult Turns 9/10 hairpin. The stiffer profile has been unable to find enough purchase to prevent the unloaded left-front tyre from locking. The slip angles generated by the tyres have also proved unforgiving, resulting in a lot of understeer characteristics in the cars.
Overall, the tyres do seem more durable as a result, but don’t yield the same level of grip, which Lewis Hamilton drew attention to. “Everyone is sliding around,” Hamilton said. “We all seem to have got less grip than before, the tyres are worse this year. On the long run, it’s physically a lot easier, what I found just there.”
He did, however, offer some encouragement about one of the main targets of the new rules: to encourage closer racing: “But the positive, so far following behind another car looks a lot better, which is I think hopefully the right direction. I hope we can maybe get some better tyres at some stage, or maybe they will work better in places it’s not so hot.”