Ferrari team principal feels 'our car in the slow corners behaves well'

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says the F1-75 “is behaving well” in slow corners compared to rivals. Speaking about the car's strengths and weaknesses following the conclusion of the Bahrain pre-season testing during an interview with Motorsport Italia, Binotto said:

“It’s a machine that is performing well in so many areas, including the power unit. Machines with ground effect perform very well in fast corners, while in slow corners you can appreciate the difference between the various teams. In Barcelona we saw in the third sector that ours is a good car. Others are too, I think Red Bull is very strong and maybe we will be surprised by Mercedes, but for now our car performs well in the slow corners.”

Binotto’s comments have sparked hopes that the Scuderia’s impressive form across winter testing might yield solid results heading into the season. This is due to the importance of being competitive in slow corners with the new cars.

Due to the combined impact of a huge minimum weight increase, as well as significantly lower downforce levels at slow speeds, the new cars are expected to perform considerably worse in slow speed corners compared to their predecessors.

Independent analysts have, however, observed the Ferrari F1-75 to be performing better than the team’s 2021 challenger in slow speed corners, despite the adverse impact of the regulation change.

Meanwhile, Ferrari themselves have agreed that the Mercedes W13 looks impressive at slow speeds corners owing to its extremely narrow body packaging and sidepod design. Comparable performances from the F1-75, however, bodes well for Maranello.

---

Both Ferrari drivers adapted quickly to new cars: Binotto

Mattia Binotto has revealed that both Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc managed to quickly adapt to Ferrari’s 2022 challenger by the end of pre-season testing, despite the vastly different characteristics of the new cars.

When asked whether either of the drivers struggled to adapt to the new cars, during an interview with Motorsport Italia, the Italian said:

“Drivers in F1, not just ours, are at a level that allows them to adapt very quickly. The new cars are very stiff and low, a feature we saw in F2, and that Charles was able to drive, so I think he was more adaptable because it resembled a product he knew. But at the end of the test, I didn’t see any difficulties in one or the other, they both adapted very quickly, but I think it’s also true for the other teams.”

The 2022 cars have significantly less downforce compared to the previous generation, especially in medium and slow speed corners, due to their reliance on ground-effects.

After testing the new cars, many drivers felt that they somewhat resembled the current generation F2 cars. As a result, drivers who were successful in F2 were expected to be able to quickly adapt to the new cars, while others were expected to struggle.