Ferrari hopes for a change, but not before Barcelona

      Frederic Wasser has said more than once that the SF-25 car has potential, the team just can't unleash it, but with each stage of the season, Ferrari is falling further behind the leading McLaren. Mercedes also has one and a half times more points than the Scuderia, which is in 4th place in the Constructors' Cup.

      Of the top teams, the difference in the number of points scored is small only with Red Bull Racing, but only Max Verstappen regularly claims high results in this team.

      In Miami, the Ferrari drivers performed worse than Williams in qualifying, and they were almost six tenths short of pole, after which Charles Leclair had to admit: "We are squeezing everything out of the car, and the result shows that it simply does not have the potential."

      It is believed that the configuration of the Miami track did not suit Ferrari, unlike Williams, so this picture is unlikely to happen again at other stages, but the question remains whether the Italian team's drivers will be able to fight for victories at all. In at least the first six Grands Prix, Leclair only managed to reach the podium once.

      But is it possible to expect that the Scuderia will be able to be added due to some technical innovations?

      The Race edition quotes Leclair as saying: "I don't know when we will receive the new items.… I don't know if this is official information, but we will receive it at some point, and I hope this will allow us to take a step forward."

      Vasseur, the head of the Scuderia, specified that a number of minor improvements will be implemented in Imola and Monaco, but noticeable changes in the balance of power can be expected at the Barcelona stage, and Ferrari has high hopes for this.

      The fact is that it is in Barcelona that the FIA will begin to impose stricter requirements on the flexibility of the front wings, which the teams only learned about in March. Most of the participants in the championship will have to make changes to the design of the machines to meet these new requirements, and theoretically this can indeed lead to some adjustment in the balance of power.

      "In Barcelona, everyone will have new front fenders. I think, by definition, this should affect the speed capabilities of the cars," says Wasser.  

      However, it should be clarified that not everyone will have to change the front wing: Jonathan Wheatley, the head of Sauber, is confident that his team will not be affected. But he also believes that the balance of power will not remain the same.

      "This will have a noticeable effect on speed, so, in my opinion, there will be changes," he said. Whitley. –Look at how tight the results are now, both in the leader group and in the middle of the peloton, so even small changes can lead to a big difference in the results."

      It is quite logical that the teams are preparing the main novelties for the Barcelona stage, because if something noticeable was introduced in Imola and Monaco, then the configuration of the aerodynamic body kit of the car would have to be changed again for the Spanish Grand Prix due to new FIA tests.

      However, there is no guarantee that when such requirements come into force, it will help Ferrari significantly improve. In any case, all the top teams hope that this will at least reduce McLaren's advantage. With the current density of results, that's already a lot.