Ferrari has studied. They did so through a clear knowledge of the facts, aware that the data collected and analyzed in recent weeks have provided various useful evidence. Is everything resolved? Absolutely not. The problems remain and until big factual updates arrive, which are currently in production and expected for the European races, the possibility of challenging Red Bull is not realistic.
In the meantime, the Maranello technicians will introduce some small innovations on the SF-23 at the 5.278-kilometre Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne. The goal is to unlock the potential of the car, widen the set-up window and manage the tyres, even the harder compounds, in a much more efficient way. This is the minimum objective that the Prancing Horse has set itself for the next round of the 2023 Formula 1 season.
At the same time, a lot of effort was put in the field of communication. A scenario which, unfortunately, as we were also able to witness in Jeddah, which has too often complicated things tremendously for the Italian side. Yes, because being the victim of a “miscommunication” exactly like what happened to Charles Leclerc in Arabia certainly doesn’t make things better. On the contrary, it makes an already extremely critical context even more disappointing.
Melbourne, Albert Park, scene of the third round of the 2023 Formula 1 world championship. A track that has to be thoroughly analyzed especially following the changes introduced in the previous world championship. A clearly faster track than in the recent past, where efficiency takes on an important aspect.
Then there is the third sector, the last sector of the track where traction and lateral mechanical grip will play a very important role in terms of performance, even not a decisive one. In addition, there will be four DRS zones introduced by the International Federation, a circumstance that could further favor, think about it, the already super-favorite Red bull RB19.
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Gp Australia 2023: the characteristics that Ferrari will have to exploit
Taking a step back to the previous year, we will all remember the clear dominance of the F1-75 in the third sector. A section of the track where, in practice, the Italian car gained a large advantage in terms of lap time. Also in the current campaign, the acceleration phases will be on the side of the Ferrari car, but Aston Martin and above all Red Bull are very good performers in this respect, thanks to a very competitive rear end that does not penalize the front.
One of the decisive factors in Melbourne concerns corner entry, especially in sectors 1 and 2, where the AMR23 and RB19 will enjoy a clear advantage over the SF-23, considering the very solid front of the two cars in question. During the 2022 edition of the Australian Grand Prix, the Milton Keynes team chose a less than perfect set up which caused a lack of rotation on the RB18s, an element which negatively affected the whole weekend. A context that will hardly be repeated this time, as pointed out by F1 expert Alessandro Arcari for FUnoanalisitecnica.
After a difficult first approach, Ferrari seems to have solved the understeer problems. For this reason we expect a rather balanced SF-23 car. It remains to be seen whether the Italian technicians, in collaboration with the drivers, will be able to produce all the pure performance that the Ferrari car is able to offer at the moment.
The absence of bumps on the track is undoubtedly good news for the Prancing Horse, as it will make it possible to use heights from the ground that are more suited for the latest aero-mechanical engineering project created in Maranello, a factor identified as one of the most pressing current problems.
In this sense, Red Bull has always had a great advantage, managing to run with very low heights compared to its competitors. We said it over the past few days but we repeat it: any small height variation (around 5mm) can make a truly enormous difference in the behavior of modern F1 cars.
Going back to the track, we can say that the second sector is a pure efficiency one, where the RB19 will show all its strength. In general we speak of medium/medium high downforce on this track which is why, at least for Ferrari, we should observe an aerodynamic package that is not too different when compared to the Jeddah one, where the SF-23 had a configuration with more downforce.
The setup of the SF-23 car, therefore, at least in theory, should fit better on this circuit with the Ferrari single-seater which may not be more charged than necessary. That’s why, as we await confirmation tomorrow, we could see a smaller difference in terms of “installed downforce” between Red Bull and Ferrari compared to Jeddah.
The SF-23 will certainly try to take advantage of the qualities of its power unit, an aspect that will allow Ferrari to use a wider development window. All this, obviously, if the floor of the single-seater is able to express the correct level of vertical thrust, without producing sudden pressure drops in certain speed ranges.
Finally we come to the thorny issue of tires. Last year, the dynamics department of the Maranello team did an absolutely excellent job, optimizing the configuration of both suspension systems on the still excellent F1-75. A context that, nowadays, is causing quite a few headaches to the men of the Ferrari Racing Division.
The activation of the compounds was fundamental in 2022. It will be even more so in 2023 considering the new Pirelli tyres. Hitting the working range and keeping it constant during the various race stints is expected to be the greatest challenge for Ferrari which, bearing in mind the tricks on the single-seater to better adapt the SF-23 to the Melbourne track, plans to maximize the result and start a slow but progressive ascent towards the top.
