A battle to the last development
From second to sixth force in the span of seven days. Scuderia Ferrari continues its rollercoaster season. The 2023 Formula 1 championship has the constant of Red Bull on another level, but behind the otherworldly RB19 in the hands of Max Verstappen, there can be a different driver every Sunday, and at Silverstone, McLaren also joined the “elite” of Formula 1, proving to be simply “a rocket” to quote Lewis Hamilton on its home track.
Describing Ferrari as the “sixth force” at the Silverstone in the British Grand Prix circuit is hyperbole, as analyzing the race pace, the SF-23 was behind Red Bull, McLaren, and Mercedes but ahead of Aston Martin and Williams, who found a lifeline with the Safety Car caused by the retirement – yet again – of a Ferrari power unit mounted on one of the Haas cars, in this case, Kevin Magnussen’s.
Team Principal Frederic Vasseur emphasized that new updates for the SF-23 are in production in Maranello. The gap to Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship is not insurmountable, 46 points, but the setback at Silverstone after two promising weekends in Canada and Austria requires additional efforts to solidify the Scuderia’s rise in the standings.
Before the summer break, Formula 1 will race in Hungary, at the Hungaroring track, where the SF-23 might even dare to dream big, but immediately after there is the “copy” of Silverstone – Spa Francorchamps – is a cause for concern, especially in light of the just-concluded weekend.
Today’s edition of the Italian daily newspaper Il Corriere dello Sport emphasizes that the development of the SF-23 will not be halted for two reasons. The first is technical: the longstanding issue with tire management will not be magically solved through the 2024 project unless a solution or understanding is reached regarding why Ferrari is struggling, particularly with the hard compound.
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The second reason can be attributed to a precise desire of President John Elkann, who one year ago did not agree with the decision of then-Team Principal Mattia Binotto to halt the development of the F1-75 in the summer, as Mattia Binotto wanted to focus on the project for the 2023 Formula 1 season, which in hindsight did not bring the expected results. As John Elkann highlighted in an interview with Sky in Austria, he values the fact that Ferrari “continues to progress” and wants to see this trend continue in the second half of the 2023 Formula 1 championship.
