Alberto Antonini, former Head of Communications for the Maranello team, understands very well what is happening in Ferrari. In his latest editorial on FormulaPassion, the journalist delves into the causes of the issues with the SF-23 single-seater.
“For Ferrari, the season started poorly and risks ending even worse” – Alberto Antonini recently wrote on FormulaPassion – “if the developments don’t yield the expected results, as was the case in Spain. On one hand, it is clear that if the problems are only with the SF-23 and not the other cars, the blame lies with Ferrari and not Pirelli. On the other hand, there seems to be a clear technical communication issue between Maranello and the sole tire supplier.” – Alberto Antonini pointed out.
The former head of the Ferrari Press Office did mention the difficult relationship between the Ferrari cars and Pirelli tires, which has origins dating back: “During the Bridgestone era, it wasn’t like this” – Alberto Antonini recalled – “But back then, the Japanese paid the team each year (about 11 million dollars per season) for the privilege of supplying the tires. Together, they achieved incredible things, including making a ‘full radial’ type of tire work in testing, which means the structure was oriented orthogonally to the direction of travel, while usually there is some degree of inclination. Different times.”
Indeed, different times, as today the fact that there is a single supplier exposes Ferrari to not having any advantage over the other nine teams: “Today” – Alberto Antonini added – “We have to make do with what we have, and it is undeniable that Ferrari’s problems stem from design flaws. Perhaps the center of aerodynamic pressure, that is, crudely speaking, the resultant of the forces ‘pushing’ on the moving car, is more of a center in name only and tends to end up on the periphery too often. But it is also undeniable that something has not been understood about the fundamentals of these 2023 tires, in their combination with aerodynamics. To the point that someone in Maranello today laments the lack of an expert who truly knows how to put things together: understanding the difficult relationship between tires, aerodynamics, and suspension.”
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“For at least ten years” – Alberto Antonini concluded – “The relationship has been swinging back and forth. One year, the Reds are the ones caressing the tires, another year, they are the ones destroying them. Today, in reality, it doesn’t make sense to speak of excessive wear and perhaps not even degradation, but rather inconsistency in performance under various conditions. At Silverstone, we know that something will change in construction…” – the former Ferrari F1 press officer wrote.
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