The reasons behind Ferrari’s performance at the Formula 1 Belgium GP

While it may look that Max Verstappen and the RB18 exceeded in performance, Ferrari’s drop in performance increased the gap. The upgrades coming from the three weeks break, made the Rossa looking less competitive than the past Gran Prix.

Ferrari’s competitiveness has been deteriorating throughout the season, while Red Bull looked to improving with the upgrades, the performance advantage now in the rival team is constituted mostly by the fact that the F1-75 driven by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, is no longer as competitive as it was at the expected starting from the beginning of the season.

The Underfloor upgrades did not perform

Hungary first and Belgium shown a Ferrari struggling with the new underfloor upgrade brought in from Maranello after France. The latest developments made the underbody more competitive in terms of speed in straights, while looks weaker in distributing weight during breaking and unable to manage downforce like before.

The underfloor of the F1-75 introduced in France has been modified at the height of the entrance edge of the Venturi Channel, differentiated between central and lateral sections. The goal was to introduce an upgrade that would reduce elevated porpoising. As seen in picture, the profile of the side body has a wider section with a lower right angle.

Tire Management and degradation

The F1-75 looks to still need to find the optimal setup to manage tires abrasion and degradation during the race, if compared to the direct rival Red Bull and Mercedes.

Undeniably, the tires strategy used from Ferrari empathized a higher degree of degradation during the race, which made harder for the strategist to opt for the best window for pit stops and tires choice. This degradation is caused by the lateral sliding out of corners, resulting in faster new tire wear given by low grip induced by downforce.

Drivers’ performance after the upgrades

The recent upgrades have seen the two drivers responding quite interestingly.

The most alarming sign comes from Charles Leclerc, that with the aerodynamic upgrades in the F1-75, looked to drop in performance, having lost the feeling with the car from the first part of the season, and peaked with the performance in France.

Carlos Sainz responded better, with his feeling with the car improving overtime, able to manage better the development brought in by Maranello.

Overall, the choices in aerodynamic development introduced by Ferrari throughout the season, did not seem to have a positive impact in the performance of the two drivers, affecting the car in the way it distributes the overall load, the major advantage of the Rossa compared to the rivals.

Expectations for the remainder of the season

Ferrari’s upset was strong.

No one expected that the opening of the second half of the season would have Ferrari with a much bigger gap from Red Bull. Losing against this Max Verstappen seen in Belgium is not a sign of a complete defeat, as the dutchman’s performance is at legendary level at par with the Senna, Schumacher, and Hamilton’s league.

The alarm is in the comparison between the development stages of the RB18 and the F1-75, whereas Red Bull have been improving over the season, widening the gap from the Cavallino.

The positive note 

The positive note is in the increased level of competitiveness Ferrari brought in from the past seasons. In every weekend of this 2022 season, Ferrari is expected to be competing for top tiers, in both qualifying and race.

In Belgium, Ferrari looked a bit more fragile, but the desire to bring in the best efforts to continue the second part of this season with more pole positions and wins, aiming to reduce the gap from a Max Verstappen and a Red Bull that are looking to cruise easy toward the victory of both driver and constructor’s championship.

The hope is that the performance seen in the Belgium GP is attributable to the characteristics of the track and the weather conditions seen in the weekend, interpreted perfectly by Red Bull, a bit less by Ferrari.

See you this weekend in Zandvoort, Netherlands, for another exciting race!