What Max Verstappen is building throughout this season is progressively transcending the concept of dominance, with a strength built on superiority and continuously improving numbers that are setting new records in the sport. However, behind him, the scenarios change from week to week, with the competitive landscape shifting race by race based on various incidents, car characteristics, and tracks.
Amidst rain, safety car interventions, and interruptions, the Dutch Grand Prix highlighted missed opportunities and seized chances, as well as joys and disappointments. The team that experienced a bitter weekend was Ferrari, leaving Zandvoort without satisfaction and realizing that an immediate reaction will be needed to face the red wave at Monza.
Since Friday, it was evident that the Prancing Horse would have to play defensively, struggling with a car that, from the first moments on the track, showed itself to be nervous and unpredictable, especially in the second sector – the sector that accentuates stability and overall aerodynamic grip. It’s not coincidental that FP1 almost transformed into a testing session for Ferrari, with comparative tests involving Charles Leclerc and specific tests with Robert Shwartzman, who replaced Carlos Sainz as per the regulations in the morning.
The SF-23 itself isn’t an easy car to drive, as demonstrated multiple times throughout the championship. This is not only due to its sensitivity to wind, which was a major theme of the Dutch weekend, but also because of its fundamental aerodynamic setup that excels only on particular types of tracks. While it’s understandable to face specific challenges arising from design choices, arriving at Zandvoort after the summer break without at least an acceptable base setup is perhaps the most concerning aspect of the weekend, as the road has been uphill from that point onward.
Even after testing a higher-downforce wing during FP1, the team chose to opt for the lower-downforce specification among the two available, attempting to find a compromise. Despite Ferrari’s tendency to use slightly different configurations compared to its rivals, in other events of the season, it did indeed opt for the higher-downforce solution. However, Zandvoort’s many fast, high-load corners that demand precise front-end control during entry and mid-corner put even more stress on the current package’s limits.
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As a result, the drivers gradually lost confidence in the car, having to drive beyond its limits. This aspect was evident with Charles Leclerc, who hit the wall during qualifying in an attempt to extract something extra from the car. Certain limitations became evident in specific sections. While new tires during qualifying helped mask certain weaknesses once again, like in turn one (on dry rather than wet conditions), where the car needs to be rotated during braking, in the race, the critical points became more pronounced lap after lap. During Friday’s long runs, almost no tire degradation was observed on the harder compounds. However, on the C3 compound, only thermal degradation was noted, which was expected to decrease with the lower temperatures predicted for the following two days, to the extent that some drivers even experienced graining during the race.
Indeed, on Sunday, tire wear wasn’t too high. Yet, staying in the wake of competitors, as Carlos Sainz did behind Gasly, accentuated tire wear, especially on the front tires. Scuderia Ferrari’s engineers often advised managing the tires in the middle sector, the most challenging part, which had further pushed the SF-23 to its limits throughout the weekend. Primarily, this refers to the sector where aerodynamic grip shines, an aspect in which Ferrari undeniably struggled during the Dutch race.
Adding to this, the fact that the asphalt in that section is quite uneven. On numerous occasions, it was observed that the Ferrari had difficulty absorbing the bumps, showing a certain instability that further upset the car, thus exacerbating the issues during corner entry. Similarly, this is where the limits at mid-corner were evident, with the car struggling to complete the rotation phase without experiencing understeer.
During the race, Carlos Sainz often had to adopt a more conservative approach to save tires. He could rely on good straight-line speeds and overtaking opportunities to compensate for lost time. Initially, the gaps weren’t too far from the duo of Alonso and Pierre Gasly. From the 22nd to the 36th lap, Carlos Sainz’s gap to the Aston Martin driver increased from two and a half seconds to about four seconds, with the Alpine driver splitting the two Spaniards.
However, as the tires degraded, the limitations of the Italian car became more evident, prompting Ferrari to anticipate the pit stop to attempt an undercut on Pierre Gasly. Carlos Sainz was struggling significantly, and maintaining that pace would have meant jeopardizing the opportunity to exploit the five-second penalty previously given to the French driver.
The 2023 project is almost reaching its conclusion, with development already finished around the summer break. However, additional planned updates will arrive for the second half of the season. The chance for redemption will come at Monza, a circuit with different characteristics from those that troubled the SF-23 in the Netherlands, both in terms of minimal aerodynamic demands and the importance of the Power Unit.
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