“I think we still have some work to do, Red Bull looked very strong.” At the end of the three days of 2023 Formula 1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, Charles Leclerc drew up an initial assessment of the track activity in Sakhir, summarizing the impressions that emerged from the track without hiding too much.
After a 2022 championship partially sacrificed to focus strongly on 2023, a different, more solid and less complex start was probably expected from the Ferrari SF-23 car. From what emerged in the Sakhir tests, for the moment the 2023 Ferrari Formula 1 challenger remains an open building site. We saw this from day one, which was dedicated exclusively to collecting data on the track to understand if they matched those from the factory and wind tunnel simulations.
To achieve this, the path chosen was to test the car in extremely different scenarios, some even unusual, so it shouldn’t be surprising if the accentuated porpoising of the first day didn’t recur on Friday and Saturday as well.
Thursday dedicated to data correlation between track and factory
Looking at the work program of the Italian side, in fact, it can be noticed that both in the morning and in the afternoon sessions, both drivers did not have particularly long stints, but rather regular 5/6 lap runs. All this demonstrates how, in those windows between the various stints, the engineers intervened in an important way on the mechanical characteristics of the single-seater to make comparisons.
These testing stints gave positive results and allowed Ferrari to continue with the initial plan, starting to combine the aerodynamic comparison work with that of optimizing the set-ups.
Looking at the images, on the second day of testing, the Maranello team carried out various comparative tests to measure the flexibility of some elements, such as the endplate of the front wing and the outer part of the floor, tested in two different specifications. Tests that also continued on Saturday, when a new rear wing with a more loaded mono-pylon in the mainplane was mounted on the SF-23, at least before a DRS flap issue forced the program to end early.
The SF-23 has different behavior characteristics
After the presentation at the Fiorano circuit, Charles Leclerc explained how, from what emerged in the simulator, the new car required a slightly different approach in terms of driving style compared to 2022, suggesting that some basic characteristics of the car had changed radically.
A feeling which was later confirmed in Bahrain and it is no coincidence that at the end of the three days of testing the Monegasque driver confirmed how Scuderia Ferrari is still looking for the ideal set-up. “It was three days of intense testing. Yesterday [Friday] we had a little more difficulty finding the right set-up, this morning [Saturday] went better, but there is still work to do.” – he pointed out – “It’s a different car, you have to drive it a little differently. I tried different driving styles and managed to find my way a bit this morning finally, but again, we still have work to do.”
“I expect to be faster on the straights but to struggle a little more in the corners. In these three days of testing I can say that we are still working to find the ideal operating window in terms of set-up, so we still have some margin to that point of view,” added the Ferrari man.
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Last year, among the characteristics of the RB18 that had allowed Max Verstappen to get the better of the F1-75 on some tracks were the top speeds, an element on which Ferrari also worked by trying to improve overall efficiency especially with DRS open. From this point of view, although again it is only a question of pre-season tests, the SF-23 has been with a certain constancy in the top positions, providing positive indications. Thanks not only to the medium-high downforce configuration, as evidenced by a rather low beam wing compared to 2022, but also to the interventions in other areas of the car to reduce drag.
Extensive work on race pace to contain degradation
With only three days of testing, drawing up a complete balance and attempting to make a first ranking of the on track values is always a risky exercise but, analyzing what emerged from Sakhir, the feeling is that Ferrari is starting the season in the role of Red Bull’s first challenger, albeit slightly. Which, on closer inspection, cannot be seen as a huge surprise, given the margin with which the Anglo-Austrian team had ended the 2022 Formula 1 championship.
Looking at the absolute times on the scoreboard would be rather useless, because any small factor is enough to call everything into question. The Maranello team concentrated on its programme, especially over long distances, focusing on the C4 only on the last day, which is more useful for accumulating data on the behavior of the new Pirelli tyres, than for going in search of pure performance.
“Actually our priority is to improve the race pace, because in qualifying even if we didn’t have a lot of development [in 2022] we were much closer to Red Bull than we were in the race. We are focusing on that,” Carlos Sainz confirmed. This can be seen by looking at the work done on Friday and Saturday, focused above all on the more “balanced” compounds in the Pirelli range, the C2 and C3, both in the standard and prototype versions.
The long runs on Friday morning, however, weren’t among the most convincing ever, demonstrating that in fact there was still something to be done on optimizing the set-up. It is difficult to say what the loads of fuel and the mappings were for each the Ferrari stints, but comparing it with the first stint of Sergio Perez, undoubtedly fully loaded given that he carried out a complete simulation, what is surprising is not so much just the degradation, as much as the fact that times were slower.
Given the high temperatures and the compound used, the degradation didn’t come as an absolute surprise, as evidenced by other teams, but with the same tire the times seemed more in line with those of Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin than with those of Red Bull. In the evening, despite the cooler temperatures of the Sakhir night, the story has not totally changed, but there have been some encouraging signs.
Although there is no confirmation, it can be assumed that Charles Leclerc had to complete a full race simulation before the red flag caused by George Russell forced the team to stop work. Nonetheless, the Monegasque driver completed two consecutive runs for a total of almost 40 laps, therefore with a good amount of fuel.
In the first laps of the initial run with the C3, the Monegasque constantly remained at 38.6/38.7, and then arrived at 39.6, not so much for a matter of lift and coast, but of cornering speed. More convincing, however, was the subsequent long run on the C1, the hardest compound tested by the Italian side, both in terms of performance and consumption, which started on the low 37 and reached the high 37 after fifteen laps, at least before the Monegasque devoted himself to fuel management practices in the last rounds. Conversely, Max Verstappen’s program was more linear, with two runs completed in the afternoon, with very god tyre management.
Charles Leclerc explained that he only began to find the right path in terms of feeling with the single-seater in the morning of the last day, dedicated to long runs right in the hottest hours close to the lunch break. Also in this case, the work concentrated in particular on the C3 compound, one of the most versatile in the range, highlighting the same consumption that had been seen twenty-four hours earlier.
Precisely for this reason the last run on the C4 aroused a certain amazement: despite the very abrasive asphalt of Bahrain not being suitable for that type of compound, the performance seemed solid.
A stint which, however, represents a bit of a trap that can be deceiving: although it is true that the times remained constant, it should be noted that in the first laps the Monegasque remained rather conservative, especially in the more stressful areas for the tyres, like the long corner of turn 12. Only as the stint continued did he start to push harder in those straights, thus reducing his times despite the natural wear of the tyres.
In the afternoon of the final session, Ferrari chose to split the programme, concentrating on the short runs on C3 and C4 in the first part of the session, to then move on to the simulation of the race pace, when the temperatures should have been more in line with those of the Grand Prix. However, Carlos Sainz did not complete a full simulation, especially with the second and third stints.
In absolute terms, it wasn’t the most linear run possible, partly because he was overtaken by Sergio Perez, partly because the trend was quite fluctuating, going from 38 and a half to a low 38 in the space of a few laps, to then conclude on 39 low. A sign that shows Ferrari tried to verify how a different management in certain areas could affect certain parameters and degradation.
The second and third stints, on the other hand, developed over a rather short distance, approximately six laps: it should be mentioned that, also given the length, the last one with the C1 did not show any particular problems with regard to fuel consumption.
“We did a lot of long runs, some with good degradation, others more difficult from this point of view. But that’s the point of testing, we worked and tried to investigate why,” Frederic Vasseur said at the end of the three-day test, trying to explain why some runs were more positive than others.
Waiting to get back on track in a few days, the main approach is caution. Even in last year’s tests, the F1-75 showed fluctuating wheelbase trends, only to prove itself concrete when it really counted. The important thing will be to understand if the improvements of the SF-23 will be enough to challenge a RB19 car which, for the moment, has proved to be best on the grid.
