Now let's talk about Ferrari that, in reality, has impressed in Melbourne despite having shown, on a medium-high track, all the weaknesses of a still very unique project with great development opportunities (reported by Seb and also from sources inside the team). The SF71H has confirmed the feelings that I reported in the final test analysis in Barcelona (that's why it's wrong to say that the analysis of the tests are useless.
It will be interesting to understand if the level of understanding of the car on the aerodynamic balancing front will be improved: the choice of a rather extreme philosophy (high efficiency, long wheelbase and high rake, indeed very high) is certainly a valid choice in theory, but rather complicated in practice; in my opinion, in fact, the SF71H did not generate enough load at the rear, probably because it was still not possible to seal the bottom at best (remember the 2017 banned by the FIA?), and this entailed a slight compromise "downward"to the front, making the car more balanced but certainly slower in the corners (although the car is still excellent on the tyres).
Ferrari intervened in Melbourne by lowering the rear and then "forcing" the diffuser to work, with obvious loss of load resulting from the reduction of the rake angle; they brought a new diffuser (with little tricks) and then tried a more loaded front wing, which was not confirmed by the pilots after FP. All this is summarized in a car characterized by high top speed (thanks to the great work on aerodynamic efficiency and a front "exhaust" to balance the rear) and an obvious understeer at the entrance. Despide of everything, Ferrari still showed excellent traction out of the corners and excellent work on the tires, using a loaded rear wing and proving that, from a suspensive standpoint, the SF71H is in place. A remarkable leap in quality on the front of the Power Unit: the new Ferrari engine seems to have improved greatly on the front of maximum power, thanks to a reduction in compression (through an increase in tolerances) and an increase in turbo pressure (through a mechanism of wastegate vent under acceleration thrust). At the moment, reliability is also promising, unlike Mercedes, which has suffered a lot of "hot air" both with Bottas and with Hamilton (Pu in protection in the last laps), and with Stroll. However, this is still not an excellent job on the consumption front (for which we expect Shell's developments) that does not allow Ferrari to increase the incidence of the wings (Mercedes's strong point) and to resolve aerodynamic pressure losses more quickly, waiting for upgrades planned for China and later GPs (Ferrari count on having an already faster car than Mercedes for the Baku GP).
Ferrari has opted for a project with a wider degree of development, exploiting.
WHAT WE WILL SEE IN BAHRAIN?
The Sakhir circuit is a medium-low load circuit that requires a lot of "mechanical" traction and a perfect use of the traction tires which, due to the temperatures and longitudinal stresses, are considerably under stress. In 2017 we witnessed a great victory by Sebastian Vettel taking advantage of the strength of the SF70H, tire consumption, and a "debacle" Mercedes from that point of view. Can it be repeated in 2018? Honestly not, since Mercedes seems to have improved on the tires front, but Ferrari will be stronger than in Australia thanks to the low load and the excellent management of the roofing, even if not enough, except for surprises, to worry Mercedes.
http://nordschleife1976.com/the-clin...ustralia-2018/
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