Red Bull has found itself in a weird position at the start of the 2022 F1 season. After propelling Max Verstappen to his first world championship in 2021, the team came into the season as favourites after the RB18 impressed in preseason testing. Ferrari always looked strong but the pundits believed the Red Bull had the edge. But in the first three races, Verstappen has retired twice, and twice he didn't have an answer to Leclerc in the Ferrari while in Saudi Arabia he only managed to win after a late safety car allowed him to close up in the Monegasque.
Red Bull has weight issues while the Ferrari has proven to be fast in all kinds of conditions. At the Emilia Romagna GP which also happens to be Ferrari's home race, the Austrian team is working towards getting updates that help with reliability and also reduce the weight of the car which makes it faster in the corners. Its mercurial adviser Helmut Marko has now admitted that the Ferrari has a number on it and happens to be a car that is easier to set up.
The reigning world champion has a fast RB18 underneath but it is riddled with reliability and set up issues
"It is very clear: "Ferrari has such a complex but easy to setup package. For us, everything has to be correctly applied to be able to compete. That's exactly why we're taking the risk of bringing new parts with only one practice session available. We want to fully attack and see this as our chance instead of waiting. Ferrari and Charles Leclerc are too strong for that," he revealed.
At the iconic Imola track, Ferrari has revealed that it wouldn't be bringing major updates. It had been toying with the idea of getting a new floor which helps with the bouncing issue that its car still has but reportedly that's also not going to happen. Ferrari has largely kept the F1-75 unchanged from the spec it had introduced in the pre-season test at Barcelona. Red Bull brought a huge update in the Bahrain test leg which added a lot of speed and also eliminated the porpoising issue.
Ferrari's update was also said to further reduce its weight but thanks to the weather expected to be rainy and the addition of the sprint race, Ferrari is sticking to its philosophy. Red Bull which now trails Ferrari by a huge margin where in the first race it had both of its cars retire and then in Australia had Verstappen retire, is taking a risk against a well-sorted Ferrari on its home turf where it is expected to be competitive.
