Asking Frederic Vasseur if the Ferrari 675 was more beautiful car than the F1-75 challenger, the new boss of the Ferrari Racing Division understandably glossed over by replying that after all the important thing is for the new car to be very fast. Then if it wins it will become even more beautiful.
There are less than ten days left until February 14, when Scuderia Ferrari, at 11.25 am Italian time, will officially reveal the new car that will try to bring the title back to Maranello after 15 years. The first chassis of the 675 was delivered on Friday: it will be used for the shakedown at Fiorano and of course for the winter pre-season testing session at the Bahrain International Circuit, scheduled to take place from 23 to 25 February. This also means that the drivers completed the usual measurements with the new seat, as explained by F1 experts Paolo D’Alessandro and Piergiuseppe Donadoni for formu1a.uno.
On the power unit front, the ‘true’ fire-up of the updated specification has already been performed correctly.
In this phase, the factories have to work in an accelerated rhythm, not only for the preparation of the first new car, but also for the production of the second, taking into account that the first race of the 2023 Formula One championship takes place just one week after the pre-season testing session in Sakhir, where only one car will be used by each team.
According to what has been reported by formu1a.uno, the new Ferrari chassis is 2/3 kg lighter than that of the F1-75. A weight loss which is equivalent to 1 tenth. It is an interesting note considering that the frontal, lateral and vertical impact tests were more severe in view of 2023. It is now established that Ferrari has been concentrated on this project for some time, having given up on the development of the previous car well before the break. Taking into account the reliability problems that emerged, it wasn’t a bad decision, even considering how much the budget cap can affect the design and development of a modern Formula 1 challenger; which means inheriting a development margin and only the track will tell if it was the right decision.
Nonetheless, it must be considered that even the direct competitors have maintained an important margin. Red Bull has metaphorically taken its foot off the gas of developments after Singapore, also taking into consideration their foreseeable penalty for an infringement of the budget cap rules in 2021. The lightened chassis of the RB18 was brought back to a rather advanced stage, however in Milton Keynes they quickly understood that Max Verstappen no longer had any direct opponents since the Belgian Grand Prix. It had therefore become clear that there was no longer the need to work on last year’s car, given the performance gap to the F1-75, not to mention Mercedes and the solid position at the top of the standings. It’s easy to imagine that much of the 2022 program has been cleverly put into the 2023 car.
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Mercedes itself could reduce the gap, as it hinted at the end of 2022, taking a race victory at Interlagos with George Russell. A goal that frankly seemed impossible in the first races of the previous F1 campaign when the W13 was fighting with Haas. It’s hard to believe that the engineers will repeat the mistake of underestimating some more hidden concepts. There is no doubt that in Brackley they have the ability and resources to unlock and show everyone a very important new potential. On the other hand, it is never easy to fully recover a large gap in Formula 1, something Toto Wolff has also admitted several times in the last few months.
Although surprises in no particular order are possible, on paper it is highly probable to expect three teams fighting for the world championship, one step above the others. Each of the three with its own strengths which everyone tries to hide until the first round of the new season. And this work goes far beyond the available wind tunnel hours, rather a lot will depend not only on having interpreted the further aerodynamic limitations concerning the floors very correctly, but also being able to use much better mechanical balancing options than last season.
The cars of one year ago were completely new, we know that the engineers found themselves battling with understeering and maddeningly stiff setups to deal with the bouncing, which not only exposed the single-seaters to breakage but to embarrassing performance losses in slow sections. Now the amount of data collected in the many races of last season is very important and should have ensured a significant step forward in terms of performance.
The minimum weight could remain 798 kg: the final decision will be made on February 20th
Article 4.1 of the 2023 technical regulation, in its current version, states that “the weight of the cars, excluding fuel, must never be less than 796 kg during any moment of the competition”.
At the time of writing, the rule has not been officially changed. However, according to what has been heard from various qualified sources, the weight could remain the one set in 2022, i.e. 798 kg and cannot go down. As previously mentioned, some macro components of the cars – such as the chassis of Ferrari and certainly of Red Bull – will be lighter. However, the minimum weight of the power units has already been indicated moving to 151 kg from 150 kg. The new 2023 Pirelli tyres appear to have slightly increased in terms of weight and there have been small, but no less important innovations such as the reinforcement in that area where the chassis connects to the power unit.
A final decision will be made at the F1 Commission meeting to be held on 21 February. After all, Frederic Vasseur himself, during the first meeting with the media in Maranello, indicated that moment as an important first appointment – as Ferrari Team Principal – to deepen some discussions.
The French team principal will inevitably offer a different dialogue as compared to that of Mattia Binotto, to make it even more constructive, especially with the FIA and with some teams. It is really early for any consideration, in the meantime we hear inappropriate comparisons between Fred Vasseur and a great politician like Jean Todt. Fred is certainly called to change the dynamics of the relationship with the Federation, but like everything else it will take time. For now, let’s just note that both were called up by Ferrari after 14 years without any titles for the Maranello team.
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