A few weeks ago, we had anticipated in this article how the long April break had served the Maranello-based team to plan interventions on the SF-23 single-seater, with the clear goal of at least partially recovering the gap to the Red Bull RB19 car.
Scuderia Ferrari engineers have finalized a detailed development action plan for the 2023 Formula 1 car, from May to October. The developments have focused on and will continue to focus on not only the aerodynamic design of the car but also interventions on the mechanics and power unit.
AERODYNAMICS
The first area in which we have already seen the initial interventions is related to the aerodynamic design of the SF-23 single-seater. In the Miami Grand Prix, we saw the first version of the new car floor and sidepods, which will be followed by interventions on the Venturi tunnels to bring the levels of downforce and overall efficiency closer to those of competing cars. Within these packages, there are also plans to soon introduce a new DRS system similar to Red Bull’s, which works in synergy with the rear wing and diffuser.
In addition to this, we will soon see some interventions on the sidepods, but not a radical change as some had speculated in a Red Bull style. Instead, it will be a reasoned evolution of the concepts already seen on the F1-75 before and the SF-23 later. In particular, work will be done on the profile below the sidepod inlet and to accentuate the downwash effect of the upper/rear part of the sidepods.
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Other planned interventions will involve new wings, with profiles designed for higher or lower downforce, with varying degrees of camber to adapt the aerodynamic load of the wings to different tracks.
SUSPENSION
On the “mechanical” level, the major work that had been undertaken in Maranello concerned the suspension geometry to optimize the performance of the Pirelli tires. The engineers revisited some projects from the recent past to assess whether solutions that had been discarded but adopted by other cars could be the key to improving the SF-23. However, from what has been reported by the Italian website Circusf1.com in recent days, this line of development will only be implemented at the beginning of next season due to budget limitations and the introduction of the new Pirelli 2024 tires as early as the Silverstone race.
POWER UNIT AND FUEL CONSUMPTION
Work on the power unit and all its components continues relentlessly. Both reliability issues and excessive fuel consumption remain a constant concern and are still major challenges for the remainder of a season that unfortunately is now only transitional.
Scuderia Ferrari and all other teams powered by the Maranello unit had initially planned to use at least four power units and their respective components in the early 2023 championship. However, the difficult start to the season had already necessitated using at least five units, and the first grid penalties will likely be incurred in some of the upcoming summer races.
TIMELINE OF THE ACTION PLAN
Imola (May 19-21) and Barcelona (June 2-4). These will be the first two events where we will see a “new” SF-23 single-seater, not a poor copy of the Red Bull but rather an evolution of the original concepts that characterize the aerodynamic design of the Maranello car.
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