System 1 | Ferrari: ‘Several factors’ will make Chinese doctor ‘very difficult’

Ferrari expects a tough weekend in Shanghai, on a circuit that requires mechanics and tires, and which F1 has not visited since 2019. Frédéric Vasseur, director of the Scuderia, explains how the team faces this challenge, and the first Sprint of the season.

“We are returning to Shanghai after a break of several years and this will undoubtedly make the weekend very difficult for everyone. We will have to deal with a combination of several factors as this is the first time the current generation of cars will race this circuit” recalls Vasseur.

“But we will only have one free practice session before we fight for the Sprint grid positions. Another major question mark is related to the conditions of the track area, which could be more difficult since our last visit.”

“As usual in this weekend’s format, factory preparation plays an important role and for us this will also involve improving the way we manage the preparation series in qualifying, an area where we have not been perfect recently with Carlos and Charles, our aim is to use the full potential of the car and get good results, while putting our competitors under pressure.

Two different systems of Parc Fermé

Diego Ioverno, Ferrari’s sporting director and motoring director for the team, explains how the change to the Sprint format affects the weekend for the team.

“The big changes compared to last year are about the procedure of the sessions” declared Ioverno. “It was designed to be more linear and more understandable for the spectators. There is only one free practice session, followed by the Sprint segment at the end of the week, and the Sprint Shootout on Friday afternoon and the Sprint race on Saturday morning.”

“From Saturday afternoon, the format returns to normal with qualifying, followed by the race the following day. The change in the order of sessions also means that the Parc Fermé conditions are used in two different sections (Shootout and Sprint and qualifying and race).”

“This allows the team to repair the cars and adjust if necessary. Obviously, one must remember that every step must be clearly thought out, considering that at the beginning of the next session, once again we enter the administration of Parc Fermé.”

“Another feature of the Sprint weekend is that in the event that the chassis is damaged or has a serious reliability problem, one can request to take a place between the Sprint races and the qualifications, even if these sessions take place on the same day. , to do this you must be ready in terms of team preparation and make sure you have the necessary elements.

“Challenge for everyone”

The fact that the Chinese GP hosts the Sprint, according to the Italian, is not only a challenge for drivers and teams: “Hosting the Sprint weekend in Shanghai is a big challenge for everyone, after five years of absence and with cars that are completely different in terms of performance and handling.”

“The drivers, the teams, the FIA ​​and the organizers will have only one session to confirm that everything is ready and to identify unexpected differences and take appropriate measures for the next session, the Sprint Shootout, which will already be competitive. The ability to react quickly will be important.

But he recognizes that when it comes to engineering, it is very difficult to predict the next weekend: “It is very difficult to predict how the new cars will perform on this circuit and how the drivers will perform on the Shanghai circuit. It is a very demanding circuit with different technical challenges.”

“The first sector and the sequence of turns 1, 2 and 3 was very difficult with the old generation of cars and we can assume that it will be more difficult with the cars. It will also be very important to check the condition of the track. the surface with any holes or bumps, for to be decisive for lower cars.”