Horner: Aus GP could be a ‘a bit of headache’ for Ferrari

Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc speaking in a press conference, the Ferrari driver leaning in. Australia April 2022
Christian Horner reckons Ferrari are in for a “bit of a headache” in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, such is the F1-75’s porpoising around the Albert Park circuit.
Porpoising is the buzz word of this year’s championship, a consequence of using ground effect aerodynamics to create downforce.
It results in the cars bouncing along the straights, some worse than others.
But while Mercedes have seemed to suffer the most, Ferrari had issues with it at the revamped Albert Park circuit.
Both Charles Leclerc and his team-mate Carlos Sainz bounced their way through qualifying, although that didn’t stop the Monégasque driver from putting his car on pole position ahead of Max Verstappen.
Sainz, though, didn’t fare as well in the lap times, the Spaniard down in ninth place in the grid.
Horner reckons the Scuderia team-mates are in for a rough ride at the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix.
🗣 "Let's goooo!"@Charles_Leclerc's battle cry echoed once again in Melbourne on Saturday evening #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/qmYKE2VPeY
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2022
“It looks like they’ll have a bit of a headache with all that bouncing going on,” the Red Bull team boss told Sky Sports F1.
“And, of course, what we don’t really know, because the long runs weren’t long enough, is whether that is going to have an effect on degradation and other characteristics.
“I think it’s going to be tough for them. We know they’ve got a very, very quick car but I still think we can race them.”
Verstappen will line up second with his team-mate Sergio Perez P3. That means Red Bull have the chance to
“After some changes, the car felt better and more stable after that, so that’s nice. Ferrari seems very strong again, but we are close,” he said.
“Probably in the race pace everything stabilises a little bit but for me this weekend so far has been all over the place.
“Of course I’m happy to be second but of course I think also as a team we want more.”
Neither Leclerc nor Verstappen has ever won the Australian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas the only past winners on the grid.