Wolff: Extra F1 wind tunnel time gives Ferrari 0.2s advantage

Since 2021, F1 teams have been operating with a sliding scale for aerodynamic testing based on a team’s success on track, with the worst-performing teams allowed to do more R&D work in the wind tunnel. 

Due to slumping to sixth in the 2020 constructors’ championship and finishing third last year, Ferrari will be free to conduct more wind tunnel testing than Mercedes, who won the last two world championships. 

And Wolff believes that could have a sizeable impact in terms of performance gains early on in the first season of F1’s revolutionary new regulations. 

“The ability of having more wind tunnel time is of course something you need to you need to bear in mind,” Wolff said.

“The advantage of finishing sixth versus first over the course of the season is a couple of tenths [of a second].

“And of course you need to catch up, but we are part of these regulations. I think it’s good to create competition, so we shall see where everyone is.”

Wolff stressed he is not “discounting any teams” from finding a potential silver bullet in the regulations - like Brawn GP’s double diffuser concept in 2009 - and subsequently taking the lead in F1’s new era. 

“Personally, I’m not discounting any teams,” he added. “Everyone could be high up in the standings at the beginning of the season. 

“We’ve seen it in 2009 with a double diffuser, if a team has innovated and discovered opportunities that could be game changers, [then] anyone can be ahead at the beginning [of the season].”

Ferrari has not won a world championship title since 2008 but Wolff hopes the Italian outfit can return to fighting at the front in F1 again this season.

“As a fan, I love Ferrari,” he said. “They they are the greatest name in Formula 1, and it cannot be that Ferrari is not competing for race victories and titles. 

“Winning championships is something different, many things have to come together to achieve that, but I think for all us fans of the sport Ferrari needs to be in the mix and we’ve missed them in the last few years.

“The passion of everyone at Ferrari and also the Tifosi in Italy, it’s important to see that the car is competitive. So I hope there will be a few of us who are able to win races and [are] fighting hard on track.”