Ferrari have suggested that this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix could be even more of a challenge in terms of keeping car temperatures under control. Ahead of the French Grand Prix, Ferrari revealed the countermeasures they had taken to deal with the "real challenge" of baking hot air and track temperatures . But moving on to the Hungaroring, where similarly high temperatures are expected at the start of the weekend, the Scuderia reckon the test could be even bigger.
Another cooling-related challenge for F1 teams
Diego Ioverno, Ferrari's Head of Vehicle Operation, explained that this is due to the nature of the Budapest circuit. "From a temperature point of view, the Hungaroring is potentially more difficult than France," he commented. "There are far fewer straights where components such as the radiators for the power unit, the gearbox oil, the brakes and other parts that require cooling, can benefit from as much airflow as possible. "While it's true that this is not a track where high average power is needed per lap and so there is less energy to dissipate, it's still something that cannot be taken for granted."
How will Ferrari and other teams cope with the heat?
Ioverno added that there will be plenty of checks during Friday practice to ensure that suitable cooling measures are in place. He also noted the knock-on effect in terms of tyre degradation, though cooler temperatures are expected over the weekend, with rain due on Saturday. "It will be important to choose the optimal cooling levels for reliability and performance after Friday, when we will check the correlation between real data and the modelling and simulation which, as always, are used to prepare for each event," continued Ioverno. "Managing the heat of the tyres in the sunny conditions will also be very important."
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