Ferrari might be the first team to employ Mercedes-style Double DRS on their car

On the last day of Mugello testing on Thursday, we saw a radically updated F2012. There were some significant visible changes all around the car, especially near the rear and the side-pods.

Smaller teams like Sauber have already declared that the F-Duct+DRS system is too costly for them to incorporate into the C31 as the device is more of an advantage during qualifying than the race. But Ferrari being the richest team in Formula 1 have the financial power to undertake this not-fully understood project.

The F2012 has been a disaster by Ferrari’s standards and there has been huge amount of talk regarding huge improvements required on the car if Fernando and Felipe have any chance of mounting a championship challenge later in the season.

The first section of updates was brought during the Mugello test and if one looks closely at the rear wing run on Thursday, one will see some changes to the end-plates. Pictures with DRS activated have not been available till now, so it is speculation that Ferrari might be trying to copy Mercedes’ solution. According to experts though, the changes to the end-plates of the rear wing, point towards the fact that the team might be trying to blow the front wing like Mercedes have successfully done.

The situation will become clearer when Ferrari bring their new front wing at Barcelona next week. If one sees slots on the underside of the front wing, then one can be sure that Ferrari have implemented the device on their car.

If Ferrari are successfully able to implement the device, things might be easier for their drivers at least during qualifying and getting into Q3 would not be a problem anymore. But again, it is important to consider that other teams will also bring big updates to Barcelona, so it will be very interesting to see whether there is any significant change to the pecking order at the start of the European season.