F1, Ferrari updates and development: how SF-23 will change during 2023 Formula 1 season

Ferrari SF-23: SHORT-TERM INTERVENTIONS
Frederic Vasseur asked his men to focus on better understanding a single-seater that didn’t deliver the expected results on the track in the first three races of the 2023 Formula 1 championship. The Ferrari Team Principal spoke of wrong set-ups and the need for the set-up to be improved to make the tires work better, especially in terms of race pace, perhaps giving up a few tenths and positions in qualifying.

The short-term interventions therefore are focused on these aspects, trying different paths on the two single-seaters during the free practice sessions, comparing the data collected with that of the simulator and trying to obtain some information from the analyzes and from the Pirelli data on the compounds used both on the flying lap and in the various stints of the race.

Ferrari SF-23: DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
During these weeks of April, the Maranello technicians finalized the development plan of the SF-23, from May to October. The developments will concern not only the aerodynamic appearance of the single-seater but also the mechanical one and the Power Unit, as reported by the Italian website circusf1.

AERODYNAMIC DEVELOPMENT
The areas on which Ferrari will try to intervene are basically four: the floor and in particular the Venturi channels which would require a profound and radical change, to bring the load levels and above all the overall efficiency of the SF-23 car closer to those of Red Bull. This will also require a change in terms of sidepod design, not radical as some have speculated – especially of the area under the openings that bring air to the radiators. In synergy with these changes, we will also see interventions on the floor during the season to improve the ground effect.

New wings, with higher or lower downforce profiles, with more or less accentuated warping of the profiles themselves, will only be the natural adaptation of the aerodynamic load of the ailerons to various race tracks. In Baku, for example, we will see the first profiles for low downforce circuits but these do not represent a development that goes in the direction of correcting a badly designed project!

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MECHANICS
On a “mechanical” level, the biggest work undertaken in Maranello concerns the geometry of the suspensions. The engineers have taken up some studies done in the recent past to understand if solutions discarded but seen and adopted by other single-seaters could be the key to improving the use of the tires and making the SF-23 more effective on race pace. Due to budget constraints, however, this study could only be put on the track at the beginning of 2024 on the new single-seater.

POWER UNIT
The work on the Power Unit and on all its components continues unabated! Reliability problems are still affecting the engine and are a cause of serious concern for the rest of the 2023 Formula One season, both for the Scuderia from Maranello and for all the Ferrari-powered teams. The planning at the beginning of the year already envisaged the use of at least 4 PUs and related components. The start of the championship has already forced the increase to five power units but Frederic Vasseur was categorical: reliability, in 2024, will no longer have to be a problem and it will be necessary to raise the standards to those of the competition, both in terms of pure performance and reliability.

Will these changes, which for now are all only on paper, be enough to bring Ferrari back to the top? It will be tough, given both the competition and the chronic inability to keep up with the in-season development that Maranello has shown in the recent past. And if last year, after all, the opponent was only Red Bull, this year the real fight will be with Mercedes and Aston Martin, while always having to look over their shoulders because the midfield teams are very close and increasingly aggressive!