Yesterday’s filming day at its home race track was an important event for Scuderia Ferrari. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc had the great opportunity to take the SF-23 single-seater for a run at Fiorano, following a program similar to a real on-track test, which has become increasingly rare but remains part of Formula 1’s DNA, especially for the Scuderia in Maranello.
The push from Enrico Cardile convinced the management, especially Frederic Vasseur, who called for more “aggressiveness” in terms of updates for the 2023 F1 car, to use the second filming day to deliberate on a new package of upgrades before the summer break in August.
The SF-23 was built on wrong foundations, and the engineers were “deceived” by the simulator
The most frequently used word in the 2023 Formula One championship by the men in red is “peaky.” This is followed by the term “operating window.” As explained by Spanish driver Carlos Sainz in a recent interview with Motorsport Italia (you can read the full interview here), “even Mercedes had a similar problem, they called it a diva,” but the performances raised the question: a capricious diva or simply a slow car?
The Ferrari technicians continue to believe in the potential of this car, but it was built on the wrong foundations. Frederic Vasseur no longer hides the fact that the choices made turned out to be wrong once the car hit the track.
The Ferrari team principal emphasized that the Italian side was “deceived” by the simulator data, discovering on the track that the SF-23 is not what the data showed. In Bahrain, they realized that the porpoising issue had not disappeared and that the front end was a limiting factor, initially for Charles Leclerc in particular. From there, the “new project” for Ferrari began, with the corrective measures that we have been seeing in recent races, following a new development direction. Now, they will have to confirm the improvements in this series of races ahead of August.
New Ferrari developments: the goal is to widen the operating window
Yesterday, the Tifosi present at the Fiorano circuit had the chance to see the SF-23 speeding with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc at the wheel, engaged in commercial shoots for the Maranello team, but not only that. In fact, the car underwent several configuration changes, following a rather precise work plan. The Spanish driver executed a run with a basic configuration of the SF-23, the one used in Barcelona and Canada, and then the new updates were mounted on the front, such as the new wing.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
In the afternoon, Charles Leclerc took to the track with the new floor and revised sidepods, and then concluded the day by returning to the standard package, conducting true back-to-back tests to gather as much data as possible within the available 100 kilometers, as explained by F1 experts Piergiuseppe Donadoni & Paolo D’Alessandro for formu1a.uno.
Even the sidepods have undergone slight modifications compared to those introduced in Barcelona, with the lower part tapered to increase the important undercut that forms above the floor and directs the airflow to the rear of the car. The raised position of the Side Impact Structure (SIS), rather than being integrated into the floor like other teams, remains a limitation of this project that can only be revised in 2024 with the approval of a new chassis. Another significant modification observed yesterday was the absence of the “cut” introduced in Spain in front of the rear wheels on the floor.
With the new floor specification, the area in front of the rear wheels is closed again. These modifications should not be interpreted as a step backward but rather as a consequence of a highly compressed development program. These updates were expected later in the season (Hungary), with the first package of upgrades intended to cover more races. The goal is to provide the SF-23 with a stable aerodynamic platform that makes it more consistent and predictable in the simulator and for the drivers, widening the operating window and facilitating the extraction of the potential that has always been seen in the simulator.
Leave a Reply