"They have a good balanced car"- F1 pundit explains why Ferrari will have "little bit more" pace than Red Bull and Mercedes at 2022 French GP

Former F1 driver-turned-TV pundit Johnny Herbert believes that Ferrari will have “a little bit more” pace at Circuit Paul Ricard this weekend compared to Red Bull and Mercedes. He reasoned this pace advantage to the low tire degradation of the Scuderia's 2022 challenger.

The Briton believes that the Ferrari F1-75 is a “good, balanced car” that puts relatively less stress on its tires, thereby allowing the Scuderia to push their car a bit more compared to rivals. Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the 2022 F1 French GP, Herbert said:

“They have a good balanced car, but also very soft on its tyres. The [F1-75] has a soft rotation. It has a softer way of loading up the tyre. When you have that, the deg on this circuit, which is high, is probably where Ferrari will gain that little bit more [pace].”

Ambient temperatures at Circuit Paul Ricard are forecast to be higher than average throughout this weekend, hence, tirewear has been a concern for F1 teams.

Tires degrade rapidly and lose grip when exposed to prolonged high temperatures, hence drivers tend not to push their cars to the limit when ambient and track temperatures are on the higher side.

This is where cars that are inherently less stressful on their tires, such as the Ferrari F1-75, are more likely to have an advantage. Meanwhile, cars such as the Haas VF-22, known to be extremely hard on their tires, will likely experience higher than average degradation.

While Red Bull generally has good tirewear, its RB18 does seem to be harder on its tires compared to the F1-75, as evidenced by Charles Leclerc’s huge pace advantage at the 2022 F1 Austrian GP.

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Ferrari felt “very strong” pace at Austria before Charles Leclerc’s throttle problems

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has revealed they had a “very strong” pace at the Austrian GP last weekend until Charles Leclerc started to struggle with throttle problems.

Before issues popped up, Binotto said that the team was confident of being able to take victory given the pace advantage that both Leclerc and Sainz had displayed throughout the race over Red Bull. Speaking to RaceFans, the Italian said:

“The tire degradation of the hard for what we saw was very little. We felt very strong, certainly in the lead with a strong tire and Charles [Leclerc] was very happy with the car behaviour.”

If the Scuderia continue to enjoy a similar advantage in France as they did in Austria, they may very well take a third successive victory to significantly cut down their deficit against Red Bull in the standings.