Rob Smedley discusses the frustration likely felt at Ferrari following the Miami Grand Prix on the “High Performance” podcast
According to Rob Smedley, a former Formula 1 engineer, Ferrari’s updates for the Miami Grand Prix were a huge disappointment. The 52-year-old explicitly describes the situation on the “High Performance” podcast as “somewhat heartbreaking.”
A whopping eleven updates had been brought to Florida. Nevertheless, not only was the pace of the Mercedes too strong, but the speed of the McLarens was also too much for the red cars.
“That sets off a negative spiral that you first have to [understand],” Smedley said in conversation with Otmar Szafnauer. “What did you bring to the track? What worked? What didn’t?”
“If the wind tunnel and simulation don’t correlate with what’s happening on the track, you have to reverse the process. That halts all development in the wind tunnel.“
Szafnauer adds: ”Two things are happening here: You have limited resources, and now you have to check whether those resources are aligning correctly if the car isn’t getting faster. And the reason you have to do that is because if that correlation isn’t right, developing your car becomes a gamble, right?“
”If that’s really their problem, then they have to solve that first and foremost. But some engineers who would normally be working on on-track performance are now looking at correlation issues.”
Aero departments at various teams
Szafnauer continues: “Different teams have different setups. When I was at [Aston Martin], we had a large APG group, an aerodynamic performance team. The people there would mainly deal with correlation, but not so much with development.”
“At Alpine, we had three of them. I thought at the time that wasn’t really enough. If your correlation is right, then it’s not a problem. But if you wake up, your correlation isn’t right, and you only have three people on the APG team, then it gets difficult.”
“Then what I just described happens: Your aerodynamicist has to focus on correlation instead of on how to make the car faster. That’s a problem.”
In the Constructors’ Championship, Ferrari is currently in second place, closely followed by McLaren. Although Charles Leclerc is in third place in the Drivers’ Championship, he is not currently considered a realistic title contender.