Technical Analysis: Why Ferrari could not solve the problem in Melbourne

Ferrari had a difficult start to the new season. The Italians never seemed to get going during the weekend in Melbourne. Ferrari, who recorded fast times during the winter test in Barcelona, discovered during free practice on Saturday morning that there was something structurally wrong with the car. 

Balance problems according to Binotto

Immediately after last Sunday's race, Mattia Binotto told GPToday.net and others that they were struggling with a balance problem in the car over the weekend. The Ferrari team boss was surprised, because until then he didn't know what was going on.

Binotto blamed it on the weather conditions, which were different in Australia than in Barcelona. In reality Binotto already knew well that they had no plan B for the weekend in Australia. Binotto stated afterwards that the problems during the race in Melbourne would be one-off. He mentioned the strategic importance of getting points and didn't mention anything else about the 'problems' his team was facing.

Investigating the problems

On Monday, several Italian media with different theories spoke out, some of which might be among the possibilities. According to the Italian insiders, the net of problems would take place around the power source. However, this does not seem to be entirely correct, as Kevin Magnussen and Kimi Raikkonen drove with the same engine and did not suffer any 'real' problems.

Nevertheless, it has become clear that Ferrari's problems were mainly due to their aerodynamic package for Melbourne. This package caused the balance in the car to deteriorate and thus the power unit could not be deployed to give its maximum capacity.

Ferrari had chosen Melbourne to introduce an upgrade package that was meant to ensure that the warmer air could dissipate from the back of the car. The reason for this was there would be higher temperatures in Melbourne compared to the tests in Barcelona. In the end, the upgrade didn't work, as it caused too much heat under the engine cover.

Tackling the issues

In the past, Ferrari had Daniil Kvyat, Antonio Giovinazzi and Davide Rigon at its disposal as simulator drivers. These three drivers met as a team in 2018 and proved to be a real asset for Ferrari research and development over the season. Kvyat was trained by the experienced Rigon and developed into a top simulator driver at Ferrari.

Giovinazzi had relevant experience with the previous Ferrari cars. The Italian drove several times in a Ferrari, Haas and Sauber. The experience on the track with these cars was essential in the simulator program.

In 2017 Charles Leclerc carried out the simulator work for Ferrari during the weekends that there were no Formula 2 races. During the Grand Prix weekends, Leclerc was running programs of more than twelve hours. The current Ferrari driver did not leave the Maranello factory until all the work was completed and the simulator team had found the correct setup.

Several times over the season, Ferrari managed to turn things around during Grand Prix weekends in one night. These simulator drivers also achieved exceptional results that the drivers would not have been able to. Last season, for example, Daniil Kvyat found out that Ferrari had placed a number of 'wrong' updates on the car. After Ferrari removed these updates from the car, it was immediately competitive again.

The current simulator situation

After the loss of Giovinazzi and Kvyat, Ferrari had to look at ways of reviving its simulator program. Davide Rigon stayed with it because he is finally the senior operator at Maranello. Antonio Fuoco was given more tasks as a simulator driver during the weekdays. Pascal Wehrlein came to Ferrari and it brought in Brendon Hartley, earlier this year.

Hartley was an excellent driver for the simulator and this was proved during the tests in Barcelona. From day one Hartley had found a solid base for the SF90. The former Toro Rosso driver, with his experience in the Mercedes simulator and its working method, proved to be a breath of fresh air. Hartley did part of the winter test and worked with Rigon in the simulator on the balance of the car. This was found in Barcelona almost to perfection.

Yet the work of Rigon and Hartley was the basis of the failure in Australia. Ferrari did not take into account in its program that both drivers were not available for simulation work in Maranello last weekend. Both drivers drove on the other side of the ocean in the 1000 Miles of Sebring and the 12 hours of Sebring. Because of this clumsy planning (it was known well in advance that both drivers would miss the first weekend) they depended on the inexperienced Wehrlein and Fuoco.

What followed this weekend was a drama. Wehrlein, who had already driven the simulator several times, couldn't manage to put his finger on the sore spot. It was so bad that during the weekend that Ferrari had to keep contacting Davide Rigon. 

Ferrari play it safe

After they found out on Saturday evening that there was no one with relevant experience to provide forecasts from Maranello to Melbourne, Ferrari decided to play safe during the Grand Prix. The program and power of the engines were adjusted.

The strategy turned out to be a safe one and Ferrari was not looking to take risks and attack. It was already clear from the first round that Ferrari was going for safely scoring the maximum points and had no illusions about a possible victory.

Mercedes dominance was a real shock, their surprise dominance after testing  (the team have been studiously developing in recent weeks with simulator driver Esteban Gutierrez) made the Italian team sit up and take note. However, in Bahrain, Ferrari has a totally new opportunity to show that its SF90 is a good car that can challenge the current W10 for the title.

Insiders are cautious about the Italians chances. They think that the Ferrari might have been at its maximum during the winter test. It will be interesting to see if Scuderia Ferrari can catch up with Mercedes. The big advantage for the Italians is that Hartley and Rigon are available for simulator work and they, unlike Wehrlein and Fuoco, may be able to put their finger on the sore spot.