“The power unit has to be versatile”: Ferrari’s reveal team strategy ahead of the Azerbaijan GP
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Ferrari
Ever since the very first race of the 2022 Formula 1 season, Ferrari’s F1-75 has proven to be a formidable car when compared to Red Bull‘s RB-18 and Mercedes‘ W13. In the season opener in Bahrain, Ferrari‘s Charles Leclerc soared to victory while Red Bull’s defending World Champion Max Verstappen could not even finish his race as he had to retire due to reliability issues.
But Red Bull made sure to turn the tables on the Scuderia in no time at all. They introduced some new additions to the engine which made sure that their RB-18 had much greater top speed than the F1-75. And when it came to long straights, Red Bull proved to come above Ferrari in almost all the instances. But Ferrari had one trump card in store for their rivals–their prime cornering speed. But in the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix, this advantage might not come to any use for the Italian team as the Baku City Circuit has some long straights.
Ferrari’s track operations manager, Nicola Bariselli, has mentioned Ferrari’s main focus will be on improving the F1-75’s power unit, so that they can compete with the Red Bull RB18’s top speed in the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In all the races that have happened so far, Ferrari has not been able to match Red Bull in terms of their speed on the straights, but Bariselli has said it is time to change that now.
Ferrari’s track operations manager believes they need to fast on the straights in Baku
After seeing Red Bull’s dominance in the straights, Ferrari has decided to switch up their strategy for the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Italian team, although they were leading the Constructors’ Championship during the initial few races, have fallen behind Red Bull and the gap between the two teams is currently standing at a whopping 36 points.
In the days leading to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ferrari is focusing on how to improve their speed on the straights as that is where they have fallen inferior to Red Bull in some of the previous races. Speaking on this, Nicola Bariselli has said, “The nature of the circuit means that the power unit has to be versatile. The driver wants it to be nicely driveable in the tight and slow sections without however wasting energy, as it’s essential to be able to deploy it down the long straights.”
With hopes of bridging the gap between them and Red Bull, Ferrari wants to score as many Championship points as they can on Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Now, it remains to be seen how the Maranello-based team conquers the top-speed game in Baku. Hopefully, Ferrari will come home with an amazing P1 and P2 finish for their two drivers after the Azerbaijan race.
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