The Formula 1 world championship will finally start this weekend in Bahrain, at the Sakhir circuit. Following the winter testing session, we noticed many certainties for some teams and many doubts to be resolved for others. But one thing is certain: the reigning world champion will start as favourite for the upcoming season in all the predictions. Red Bull showed the enormous potential of the RB19 in the three days of pre-season testing, without even showing everything. This is already a wake-up call for rivals Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes.
As underlined by Argentinian race car designer and engineer Enrique Scalabroni (who joined the Maranello team as chassis and aerodynamics Chief Designer in September 1989) in a discussion on the Pit-Talk podcast, Red Bull has further improved the strengths of the 2022 car, “limiting itself” to an optimization of the present package. Without the need to develop the new single-seater too much compared to last season’s winning car. While Ferrari’s rivals from what emerged in recent tests have a lot of work to do.
The Maranello single-seater has certainly improved compared to the F1-75, but certainly one cannot speak of a revolution compared to 2022. The concept of the wide sidepods in the rear has been modified, but not taken to extremes. So the SF-23 was designed in continuity with the 2022 car. And at the same time, Ferrari will have to deal with the improvements of its rivals on the track…
In this regard, Enrique Scalabroni expects an outcome of the championship equal to that of last year, given that none of the three top F1 teams has brought a real revolution from a technical point of view to the new cars:
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“All three top-teams have optimized last year’s product, and therefore the outcome of the championship should be the same as last year. Unless one manages to increase the power of the engine, otherwise the result will be the same as last year. I speak from a logical point of view..” – he explained.
According to the Argentine engineer, therefore, Red Bull is destined to win this championship as well. There are several (perhaps too many) question marks around the rivals from Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes. Leaving aside the German team, which should bring a B version of the car in the next GPs, will the Maranello team be able to fix the tire wear problems that emerged in the pre-season testing session? The SF-23 proved to have the same problems that emerged in the second part of the 2022 season.
Enrique Scalabroni believes that “this year’s Ferrari is a product of Mattia Binotto. Therefore it continues to be as it was before. Binotto made the most important decisions (on a technical level) for Ferrari this year. The car is not even a development of the F1-75, but it is an optimization of the 2022 one. When you optimize the old car, you can improve it by that 3-4%. But much more is needed here to close the gap with Red Bull.” – the former Ferrari chassis and aerodynamics Chief Designer pointed out.
So according to what Enrique Scalabroni said, we shouldn’t expect miracles from Ferrari. In all likelihood, the Italian side will fight for second place in the constructors against Mercedes, a bit like the outcome that occurred in the second part of the 2022 F1 season. To really see a revolutionary single-seater, we will have to wait for 2024, or the first Ferrari which will be designed under the Frederic Vasseur era.
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