The Red Bull team showed a significantly higher top speed than Ferrari at the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but in the end the lap time difference was minimal, so much so that it was Charles Leclerc who took the point Bonus for making the fastest turn in the race.
The top two cars on the grid are close in performance terms, so wouldn’t it be time to talk about a Honda superengine, reigniting the controversy that hit Ferrari in 2019?
Mattia Binotto , boss of Ferrari, wanted to nip the controversy in the bud: “Honestly, I think they are two different situations, because I think there are different configurations of the Red Bull wings, so it seems obvious to me that it was a question of aerodynamics” .
“It is true that they have a very high speed, and perhaps we are also studying if they have some aeroelasticity in the ailerons, but they are common analyzes that we do.”
Asked if the F1-75 was a car capable of correctly managing the 18-inch tyres, the Italian said: “Our strategy was one stop, changing from medium to hard. We planned to stop on lap 14 and we succeeded more or less (stop was on lap 16).”
“The tires behaved more or less as we expected. It is true that the hard ones had very little degradation, while we expected a little more, hoping to have a little advantage over Red Bull, which we did not achieve, but now we have consistent and predictable compounds. They are much better than last year and easier to handle,” he explained.
Ferrari started the year with the intention of returning to the top, and it seems that they are on the right track after two races: “I can say that we have achieved 78 points out of the 88 available, we have achieved more points than Red Bull and Mercedes combined! I think we have done well and have shown that we are always competitive.”
“The credit goes to a team that in three long weeks (Bahrain test, Bahrain GP and Saudi Arabian GP) did a very solid job, the car worked, but also the pit stops, the mechanics. In short, the strategies and engineering were of a high level. So I am very satisfied, because we have achieved much more than anticipated.”
In short, Ferrari started better than expected, although the Maranello team were clearly disappointed that their second victory slipped out of their hands due to a few details that made the difference.
