Charles Leclerc warns SF-23 ‘weakness’ still exists amid poor pace on Hard tyres. Ferrari has not found a solution to a key issue with their SF-23 car.

Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc has issued a caution about an existing “vulnerability” in the SF-23 single-seater, a concern that became evident during the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday, especially in the second part of the race which was held at the 4.304-kilometre Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.

Despite initially starting from pole position, Charles Leclerc finished the Mexican Grand Prix in third place, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton managing to overtake him and secure the second spot a few laps after the race resumed following the red flag due to Kevin Magnussen’s heavy crash. Charles Leclerc faced challenges when racing on the Hard tires during the restart, as he grappled with maintaining his position against the fast-approaching Mercedes cars on the Medium tires. This challenge is attributed to a characteristic that had been previously acknowledged by the team earlier in the 2023 Formula One campaign.

“I think it still confirms the weaknesses of our car, where it’s a very peaky car. Whenever we get out of the optimal window of the car, we are losing too much time. That’s exactly what happened on the Hard.” – the Monegasque driver explained when asked to look back at the last race.

The Maranello team dedicated extensive effort to fine-tuning their setup, aiming to comprehend the fundamental issues with the SF-23. This meticulous work has proven instrumental in unlocking their performance over the past few races. Carlos Sainz astutely harnessed this improved setup to secure a victory in Singapore at the Marina Bay street circuit, making him the solitary non-Red Bull driver to achieve such a feat. Concurrently, Charles Leclerc attributed their recent podium finishes to the meticulous setup adjustments and fine-tuning they undertook.

The Ferrari man was aware that he would encounter difficulties in the second part of the Mexican Grand Prix with Hards, even more so due to the red flag moment that allowed everyone else to change the tyres, while at the same time leading to a loss of the temperature in the tyres.

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“At first, I thought I could do quite a good job once we stopped. But then there was a red flag, the tyres cooled down, we went back out and the feeling was just not the same,” the Monegasque continued – “It’s a bit of a shame because before that it was really good, especially on the Medium. But we’ll look into it on the Hard to try and understand what went wrong to improve that in the future. In the short term, there’s no big fixes I think every time we are a bit out of the optimal window, we lose too much time.” – the Ferrari driver concluded, ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix.