Six reasons that explain why Ferrari started winning in Formula 1 and dreams of returning to Schumacher's glory days

After Charles Leclerc's triumph in the opening of the Formula 1 championship in Bahrain and the resounding 1-2 by Ferrari by Carlos Sainz, millions of typhosis around the world are excited to return to their best times in which they dominated the category, as happened 20 years ago with Michael Schumacher with 11 championships, six for Constructors and five for Drivers between 1999 and 2004. There are a number of reasons that explain why the historic Scuderia de Maranello made a quality leap for this season and that invites us to dream of repeating those glory days.

On motor

It is necessary to recap and reach three races in 2019, when Ferrari won with a double from Leclerc in Belgium and Italy and Sebastian Vettel in Singapore, which until this Sunday was La Rosa's last victory. In those three races the Italian team had a superlative engine and aroused suspicion for alleged irregularities in the fuel flow system. This, supposedly, allowed the red cars to have a better entry of gasoline into their engine, more power and speed than the rest.

Red Bull filed a complaint with the International Automobile Federation (FIA), at that time chaired by Jean Todt, former Ferrari boss at the time of Schumi, and there was an investigation that ended in February 2020. Rumors indicated that Ferrari had cheated in the engine, exploiting gray areas in the regulations and that Todt would have spared their lives. But the form of publication of the FIA statement and its wording - far from clarifying - obscured the issue as it reached all the teams by email at the time when the last day of previous rehearsals in Barcelona ended and its resolution was: “There was an agreement with the team (Ferrari) and the specific content of the agreement will be up to both of them parties”.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and several teams froze the developments of their engines due to economic issues, but they also focused on the new regulation that took a year to release and was 2022. In Maranello, they worked with the focus on this new era and they sacrificed two years of bad results and in 2020 they finished their third worst season in their history repeating sixth place in the World Constructors' Championship as it did in 1973. The worst was in 1980 (10th).

In 2021 there was an improvement and they were able to finish third, but a far cry from the fight for the title that Mercedes and Red Bull had. Although in Maranello the eyes were in 2022. It should be remembered that this year the technical regulations had a radical change in aerodynamics and that the engines will be the same until 2025 and only the fuel use was changed, the E10, that is, with 10 percent ethanol, which reduced the power of this year's impellers by 20 horsepower, according to Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto.

In Bahrain's standings, when cars are the fastest all weekend, top speeds at the end of the main straight indicated that the Red Bulls were ahead with Sergio “Checo” Perez (323 km/h) and Max Verstappen (322 km/h), while Leclerc (11th) reached 316 km/h and Sainz (12th) at 315 km/h. However, the Monegasque took the pole position and that shows the good balance of the car throughout the circuit, especially in the corners. In other words, in the sum of the entire route it was the fastest and that is due to a good combination of engine/chassis performance.

Whoever has the best engine now, will have a lasting advantage in the season and Ferrari hit first. But “Ferrari doesn't have the best engine,” former F1 driver Marc Surer told German site Formel 1. “But they tied. I think that shows now because they have had good results in the past with an inferior engine. They are now practically back to the level of Mercedes and Honda. I wouldn't say there is a really better one.” What if the Scuderia hasn't shown everything it has on its drive yet? Nor did he present his cards in the preseason tests and his competitiveness was evident in Bahrain.

The brand new Maranello driver is called 66/7 and is it the best of 2022 or not, the truth is that Ferrari's fierros jumped and its customer teams, Alfa Romeo and Haas, fought ahead with Kevin Magnussen (5th) and Valtteri Bottas (6th). The example of the American team is the most eloquent, since in no race in 2021 did they finish in the top ten and did not score points either. This weekend on the long straights of the fast-paced Jeddah street circuit in Saudi Arabia, it is possible that Italian engines will once again be the reference.

The chassis

Ferrari also took out of the galley a concept of a car that started well. The F1-75 (for the anniversary of the first sports car built in Maranello), hit the key in the year that radically changed the technical regulations and the aerodynamic aspect is key. The design of the red car stands out from the rest and the most pronounced point is its pontoons, the sector that is on the sides of where the rider is located. This sector has undulations so that the air flow penetrates in the best way, gains traction and therefore speed. No other F1 car in 2022 has that design on its pontoons and it is possible that it will be copied by the rest. Another important point is that in Bahrain they began to resolve Porpoising (the rebound effect on the straights), although this issue remains to be completely resolved.

The La Rosa machine began to be conceived two years ago and it is clear the touch of a historic designer who returned in 2020 as a consultant and was the father of cars that Schumacher swept between 2000 and 2004: Rory Byrne, who was one of the conditions that the Kaiser demanded to reach Ferrari in 1996 and who knows him from his time in Benetton, when he also designed champions cars for him. The 78-year-old South African, a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand, wanted to be a driver since childhood, although after trying several times, he realized that his thing was under the car and in La Máxima he designed the first car that Ayrton Senna raced, the TG184. He then moved to Benetton and met Ross Brawn, who was Ferrari's technical director at the time of Schumi.

“The last time I managed a car on the track was in 1993 and I rarely go to the races as there is so much support and research work to be done here at the factory. These days, information is transferred via satellite and with modern communications, it is not necessary,” Byrne revealed in his first stage at Ferrari, in statements reproduced by the Prueb Auto Sport site. For Schumi to crush at that time, Rory and his team worked 14 hours a day, seven days a week and the designer only went to the Grand Prix in Italy, in Monza and Imola, because of the proximity.

Byrne left with Schumacher in 2006 and returned in 2012, when he became involved in the redesign of Fernando Alonso's car and brought him back to competitiveness. With a low profile and not being present at Maranello, since 2020 he provided the ideas for the concept of the new Ferrari car. “I like winning, but it's not as important as being competitive. Being uncompetitive is something I just can't handle. Losing a race by a few tenths of a second isn't so bad; it just depends on the details of the day. Coming second, one lap down, is terrible,” he revealed.

The car responded wonderfully and achieved a 1-2 in Bahrain, something Ferrari had not achieved on a first date since the 2004 season, when Michael Schumacher won in Australia and was escorted by his teammate, Rubens Barrichello.

Your pilots

He has a strong duo with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. It is clear that Monegasque is number one, but he has a high bar with the Spanish, which is very fast. “I am very happy, the last two years have been incredibly difficult for the team. We knew this was going to be a great opportunity for us, the guys did an incredible job giving us this fantastic car. We started in the best possible way, with pole, victory, fastest lap and double with Carlos. Thanks to all the fans who have not stopped supporting us in these two difficult years, it is incredible to be back on top,” said Leclerc after his victory at the Sakhir International Autodrome.

The 24-year-old Monegasque, after his beginnings in karting, where he began his battles against Max Verstappen, trained in Ferrari, which recruited him for his driver's academy, and beyond his talent he arrived there thanks to his friend, the remembered Jules Bianchi, the last driver to die in La Máxima, whose death was in 2015 for the consequences suffered in an unusual accident in Japan 2014. Charles's confidence was such last Sunday that he was even encouraged to play a joke on his team on the last lap with an alleged engine failure .

Perfect arrests

The pit work during the race in Bahrain was impeccable and it was noted the strong previous training that there was in the preseason with their mechanics, who now have to fit tires that are 43 kilos heavier than last year, since the 13-inch ones that were used until 2021 were replaced by the 18-inch ones. Leclerc and Pérez did not have any delays with the change of tires and in contemporary F1 this is key since a position and even a race can be won in the pits.

The problems of Mercedes and Red Bull

If Ferrari was ahead it was on its own merit and because Mercedes and Red Bull also had problems. After the first date it is good to know what happened to the other two stronger teams and what they should work on to get closer to Ferrari. To understand the problems of his direct rivals, Infobae spoke with Enrique Scalabroni, an Argentine engineer who worked for several years in La Máxima and was involved in Williams when he won the Constructors' Championships in 1986 and 1987 and the Driver's Championships in 1987 with Nelson Piquet. But his most important work was at Ferrari where he was chief designer between 1989 and 1990, when he developed the 641 with which Alain Prost fought for the title against Ayrton Senna and his McLaren. Then he moved to Lotus. He was also head coach for Peugeot in his triumphs at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1992 and 1993.

“It is clear that Red Bull had problems with brakes and also in power steering due to failures in the hydraulic system. And Checo Pérez had a gearbox or engine block. Otherwise there would have been more fighting throughout the race,” explained the coach born in Alta Gracia.

“What is strange are the problems of Mercedes, where it is not known if it is due to a high drag (drag) due to the narrow sides that they leave the rear wheels without aerodynamic fairing and this generates more drag, and therefore more power consumption, and they also have greater Porpoising problems compared to Ferrari and Red Bull”, he added.

“All the other teams have a lot of problems in aerodynamic efficiency compared to Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes and are further behind than last year,” he rounded out.

His story

You should never underestimate a giant. It can fall and the blow will be very hard or fall asleep, but when it lifts its impact will also be stronger. Ferrari stood stoic as Mercedes swept since 2014 at the beginning of the hybrid era. He endured the loads, the memes, trending on social media for his mistakes at the pit stops, but he also had internal failures such as poor handling with the departure of Sebastian Vettel. However, he knew how to rearm himself and turned to his old sources to fight again and Byrne's return is a sample.

The Scuderia is the only team that was in the category's 72 years and the most awarded with 15 Drivers' Championships and 16 Constructors' Championships. You know what it's like to go through crises and overcome them like in 1973 and 1980. He went 21 years without winning a drivers' championship and ended that drought with Michael Schumacher in 2000. In this competition since 2007 he is not a champion, when Kimi Räikkönen won it.

The last two seasons the Italian team kept a low profile and in silence the “red army” took refuge in Maranello. They never gave any signs of anything, they were simulators of the potential they could have in 2022 and they proved it. They waited crouched and beat, as Enzo Ferrari liked to do, who from the sky draws a smile when they saw his beloved Cavallino Rampante ahead again.

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