F1, Ferrari: SF-23 car's setup window is smaller than its competitors

Scuderia Ferrari’s strong performance in Azerbaijan confirmed the good preparation work carried out by the Maranello team in recent weeks. The double pole and podium finishes in the sprint race and Sunday’s Grand Prix brought the red team back to the level of Bahrain. Charles Leclerc extracted all the potential from the SF-23 in every session of the weekend, preceding Mercedes and Aston Martin in a similar way to the first round of the 2023 Formula One season before a central unit failure sidelined him a few laps from the end of the Sakhir race.

It is probably no coincidence that the historic Ferrari team has offered the best performances in this troubled start of the season when it had more information to deliberate on the basic setup. The first race of the 2023 F1 campaign was preceded by three days of testing at the Sakhir circuit, while yesterday’s race was prepared based on the numerous simulations carried out in the Maranello factory given the long April break caused by the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix.

It is necessary to underline that the Scuderia Ferrari did not bring any updates for the race in Azerbaijan, a logical choice given the experimental format of the weekend in which only one free practice session was held. The feeling arises that the 675 project is very sensitive to small variations in setup and therefore requires the drivers and engineers to have a wider learning curve than its competitors to optimize the package.

Ferrari: is the gap to Red Bull real?
Is the performance offered by the Ferrari team a glass half full or half empty? As often happens, the judgment is functional to the pre-established objectives and the level of competitiveness of the car. Charles’ performance brings Ferrari back to the position hoped for before the 2023 Formula One season, behind the supersonic RB19, and allowed the Monegasque driver to excel in the two qualifying sessions. It is a starting point for the championship, but it must be put into context.

The gap between Charles Leclerc and the Red Bull drivers is still very wide. Despite the first podium of the 2023 campaign, in his post-race interviews, the Monegasque driver was quite disappointed, convinced that the RB19 has more potential than what Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen showed.

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However, this impression is not convincing. The fight for the extra point waged by the Austrian team’s drivers in the final stages of the race still forced them to maximize performance in many laps. Paradoxically, the true variable is the class of Charles Leclerc.

How much of his skill, on a track he loves, has reduced the gap with the Milton Keynes team’s cars? If the value of the red car were based on what Carlos Sainz expressed, the Azerbaijan weekend would have a completely different view.

The Spanish driver failed to find the right feeling with his car, and as often happens to those who lack confidence, he seemed like a passenger in a car he didn’t trust. The imbalance between the performance of the two Ferrari drivers confirms the thesis that much of the SF-23’s performance in Baku is due to Charles’ amazing abilities, especially at the Baku City Circuit, as explained by F1 expert Roberto Cecere for FUnoanalisitecnica.

Ferrari: Fred Vasseur’s optimism clashes with Charles Leclerc’s realism
The first signs of recovery could only be welcomed with satisfaction by Frédéric Vasseur. The team principal of the Scuderia Ferrari, unlike Charles, believes that Red Bull pushed to the limit until the finish line and that the performance throughout the weekend demonstrates the steps forward taken by the team in understanding the car. Improvement partially appreciated also in Australia with Carlos Sainz.

In the next races, the first step of updates will be deliberated, which should conclude at the Spanish Grand Prix. The French manager is aware that the competition will not stand idly by, as in the case of Mercedes, which will bring a completely new aerodynamic design to the track.

Will the corrective measures to the SF-23 be enough to enter the fight with the Red Bull RB19, a car that Charles Leclerc has once again defined as racing on a different level? Some first answers could come in just under five days in the first American Formula 1 race of this season.