Ferrari: Imola 'not the right place' for upgrades

Ferrari says it will not bring any significant updates to its F1-75 car at next week's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix due to the event's sprint qualifying format.

Imola will mark the start of F1's European season, a point in F1's campaign where teams traditionally roll out their first main technical developments.

But next week's event – the first of three sprint qualifying weekends scheduled by F1 in 2022 – will feature just one 60-minute practice session before teams head into qualifying on Friday afternoon, which leaves little time for an outfit to properly evaluate a major upgrade.

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto says the Scuderia will work at Imola to "mitigate" the porpoising issues still impacting its 2022 car, but significant updates will be implemented at a later date.

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"I think it will be a difficult weekend in respect of bringing updates and trying to evaluate them in the Friday practice, because you need obviously to focus yourself on the quali of the afternoon," said the Ferrari boss.

"If we will look at ourselves, there will not be much in Imola because again, we believe it will not be the right place.

"But we will try to mitigate the issues we have got still so far. I'm thinking of the porpoising and the bouncing that has affected our performance over the weekend.

"So we again try to work on that specific point. But, for the upgrades and more, let me say significant ones, it will be for later on in the season."

Ferrari's massive efforts last year to field a competitive new generation car in 2022 have so far paid off, with the Scuderia and Charles Leclerc comfortably leading their respective championships.

Although Binotto was confident in Ferrari's ability to produce a competitive package, the Swiss engineer is nevertheless surprised by how the Italian outfit has hit the ground running in 2022.

"I'm certainly surprised," he said. "I think we worked hard and we put a lot of priority on to 2022. I knew that the team was a great team and we somehow improved ourselves compared to the past seasons.

"I was hoping to have a competitive car for the start of season...but certainly I was not expecting such a good start to the season. I think it would be unfair to think that.

"But I still believe that the difference between us and the others can be very little. I think the past races have proved it, and it will be a great fight in the next races certainly."

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