Between a Red Bull RB19, a Ferrari SF-23 and a Mercedes W14, the best time of the second day of 2023 Formula 1 pre-season testing went to Guanyu Zhou in his Alfa Romeo C43. The young Chinese driver used the Pirelli C5 compound tyres therefore two levels softer than the tyres used by the top teams, to lower Max Verstappen’s time by 40 thousandths.
The performance advantage given by the compound used on the C43 compared to the rubber of the Dutchman (C3) is quantified by Pirelli at about 7/8 tenths. Despite the attempt to set a fast time (on two runs), the data would not seem to reveal an important increase in engine mappings, on the contrary if we take into consideration the speeds, which were certainly lower than the Ferrari-powered Haas.
The Maranello team completed 138 laps on Friday with the Ferrari SF-23, visibly improving the balance compared to Thursday’s somewhat extreme tests, with very regular work by Carlos Sainz in the morning. The bouncing problems were clearly less visible, as the Maranello engineers confirmed after the second day of pre-season testing, according to Italian journalist and F1 expert Giuliano Duchessa.
Charles Leclerc was able to push on the harder tires so the Monegasque’s pace was quite consistent. Max Verstappen has so far shown that he is clearly the most solid with each compound, the RB19 is a very efficient car with little drag and a lot of overall downforce. The front wing design shows low drag compared to rivals, which is difficult to replicate. However, from today the distances between the top teams could narrow again.
On the final day of testing, Scuderia Ferrari is running an updated floor on the non-visible part on the SF-23. The modification will concern the area of the Venturi tunnels, which is the most sensitive area, linked to the ride heights and which really counts in order to produce better performance. As anticipated, the test was scheduled for Saturday. The work done on the track prompted the team to postpone the introduction of the new floor until the last day of testing.
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Ferrari also wanted to test a rear wing with a different design, but due to a DRS issue on the SF-23 car of Charles Leclerc, the Maranello mechanics had to replace it with the previous specification after just a few laps in the morning session. It remains to be seen if Ferrari will use this new rear wing during the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.
The SF-23 was the car that run significantly more unloaded, perhaps even too much for a track like Sakhir. A certain mystery remains at Fiorano as to why an older but more charged specification has not been seen, especially with a view to controlling the work on tyre degradation, which was the big problem with the old F1-75. However, on Friday the car started to slide a lot less, also improving in terms of traction.
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