With only three races left in the championship, it can be asserted with certainty that Ferrari’s 2023 season has proven, based on the performances shown since the beginning of the year, to be full of challenges and lacking in satisfaction. In reality, the red car, despite the optimistic expectations during the winter, has always struggled to extract the potential from the SF-23, which, despite being an evolution of the 2022 car, has never been competitive and “honest” to the engineers but, on the contrary, capable of dropping the team to third place among the constructors standings.
This state of affairs, as mentioned, has positioned the Ferrari not only behind Red Bull, which is of a different level, but also behind Mercedes (from the start of the championship) and Aston Martin initially and McLaren later. It’s a situation from which, with hard work on development and understanding of the car starting from the winter tests, the engineers and drivers of the Scuderia have tried to escape. This work, after the summer break, brought the SF-23 not to Red Bull’s level but at least made it more consistent compared to the early part of the championship, and it even achieved a victory in Singapore.
A moderate but existing growth that will inevitably need to continue during the winter break to ensure that in 2024, the Prancing Horse returns to occupy the positions it deserves. The objectives for the 2024 Formula 1 season were discussed by Ferrari’s Sporting Director, Diego Ioverno, during the team press conference at Interlagos: to continue growing in every area and maximize performance wherever possible.
“In the last races, we need to continue our process of improvement, both in our working methods on the track and at home, and in how we execute the races. There’s a lot to improve.” – Diego Ioverno pointed out.
The Scuderia’s Sporting Director then provided a brief assessment of the 2023 Formula 1 season, which began with victory objectives but were soon scaled down due to the limited potential of the SF-23. This potential could allow the Maranello team to secure a second-place finish in the constructors’ championship, ahead of Mercedes, with whom the battle appears to be very close.
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“We always start with the aim to win, but we quickly realized we weren’t capable. Second place in the constructors’ is better than third, but it won’t be easy as Mercedes is very strong with a development plan similar to ours.” – the Italian engineer added.
According to Diego Ioverno, apart from Red Bull, there has been a competitive battle throughout the championship in various areas of the standings, both for the top positions and lower down the order: “Except for Red Bull, which dominated the championship, it has been quite close, and we are doing our best to secure second place.” – he concluded.
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