What we saw in Montreal, where the Canadian Grand Prix took place last weekend, is a Ferrari that is clearly recovering after a start to the championship that fell well below expectations.
Despite a Saturday marked by several mistakes, the Maranello team had a very positive weekend, finishing in fourth and fifth positions in Sunday’s race. Did the updates brought to Spain (which were labeled as a flop after the Barcelona race) start to work? It seems so. The fact is that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s SF-23 cars performed well, particularly in terms of tire management. Everything suggests that the worst is behind them and a new chapter opens for the Scuderia. Carlo Vanzini discussed this in his usual analysis for the Italian magazine Autosprint.
Carlo Vazini’s analysis of the situation at Ferrari:
“Just one podium in 8 races, a definitely disastrous start, and Canada is no exception, but Ferrari leaves Montreal with a fourth and fifth place, but above all with a quarter or a fifth of a full glass, very flavorful,” Carlos Vanzini begins in his analysis for the renowned weekly magazine.
Then the journalist emphasizes: “On Sunday in Spain, Fres Vasseur’s ‘the developments worked’ idea was met with irony by many. But how so? Carlos Sainz started second and finished fifth, Charles Leclerc had a problem in qualifying that still hasn’t been understood, so? Well, Ferrari had to reset its own beliefs to pursue a new and unforeseen path at the beginning of the 2023 Formula 1 season, with new sidepods and a new floor. The essential part of the work was to have the answer, which came: yes, the change in direction allowed the SF-23 to become less temperamental and enable a much wider operating window.” – the Italian journalist explained.
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The worst seems to be behind them, although the road to fighting for victories and titles is still long. “An update not for performance, but for direction, to exit the tunnel. For the first time, we see a bit of light. Not the famous ‘there is light’ of the unforgettable Giampiero Galeazzi, when he commented on the achievements of the Abbagnale brothers in rowing, but a glimmer at the end of a still long tunnel.
The real news is that it’s not the light of the train that has already crushed Maranello’s ambitions since the tests. In Canada, from Friday, Saturday in the final free practice session, and Sunday, not in qualifying, we saw the best SF-23 of the year. Of course, we have to take into account the track, stop-and-go, less demanding on tires, with high curbs, but already from the first free practice, it seemed to be competitive throughout the day, the best Friday of this obscure 2023. On Saturday, with rain, we thought it might regress, based on what was seen in the wet in Monaco, and instead, Ferrari was always there with Max’s Red Bull,” says Vanzini.
The negative aspect of Ferrari’s weekend in Canada was certainly the qualifying session: “The worst moment, with Sainz lacking confidence due to the crash in the final session, finishing eighth and then penalized three positions for impeding, and Leclerc, for the second consecutive time, failing to make it to Q3. His elimination triggered his anger because he desperately wanted the dry tire, while the team told him to at least set a time on the intermediate tire.”
Although Charles Leclerc was right, he is not without fault: “The correct indication was his, as the ‘even Max is doing the lap’ was wrong since Verstappen had gone out first and had a minute advantage over the red team’s strategy. The Monegasque wanted to rectify the situation after a long conversation with Fred Vasseur, about a quarter of an hour, and there is a great understanding between them, as he realized that he had also made a mistake on that single attempt with dry tires (Verstappen had two), while the others in his same situation, like Sainz, had set a time early enough to make it to Q3. Shared responsibility and an immediate U-turn for Charles, after the outbursts driven by intense emotions. It’s a real shame because with what would have been a fairly expected front row, we would have seen a different race and surely a red suit on the podium.”
That didn’t happen, but there is no shortage of good news: “A Red Bull, the unsettling Segio Perez, was beaten on the track, the strategy was perfect, and believe it or not, Ferrari allowed itself to keep up with the top three with one less pit stop, with more laps on the tires. Now that the main path seems to have been found, developments dedicated to the SF-23/2 will arrive.”
In this regard, Carslos Vanzini ventures to write: “There won’t be a new suspension this year, but now, on paper, they can work on what has been the biggest question of the year so far: where is the long-awaited ‘fastest Ferrari ever,’ dated February 14, 2023, in terms of performance. In Austria, in Red Bull’s stronghold and in the land of the Orange invasion, the answer is now eagerly awaited!”
However, Carlos Vanzini points out: “Fred Vasseur’s Ferrari is starting to take shape with about forty new additions coming to Maranello and upcoming changes, including the departure of its number two, Laurent Mekies, heading to AlphaTauri, and the resurgence of a ‘neglected’ Diego Ioverno, who will reclaim the position of sports director, while Mekies’ other responsibilities will be assigned to others.”
In short, the 2024 project is starting to take shape, a project that Ferrari will have to carefully develop if it wants to return to its former glory or at least regain competitiveness. “A good first step in rebuilding, but it is also always the first step of a Scuderia that certainly cannot be satisfied with still looking up at the Formula 1 podium from below,” concluded Carlos Vanzini.
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