Scuderia Ferrari overall balance upon returning from Baku is certainly positive: after the disappointing outcome of the Australian Grand Prix, the two drivers of the Prancing Horse have started to move up the rankings, bringing back the smile to a team that has had some very tough weeks.
Charles Leclerc, on a track that suits him very well, offered his best performance, scoring two pole positions, a second place in the Sprint race, and finished on the third step of the podium in the Azerbaijan GP.
The Scuderia did not bring important updates for the fourth race of the 2023 Formula One season: in addition to the low downforce wing with the double support pillar, there was only a carbon cover with an extension in the front arm of the upper triangle, to increase the anti-dive effect, while the Maranello factory had worked tirelessly to anticipate some updates that perhaps won’t even be seen in Miami next weekend.
The question that can be legitimately asked is: on the city track located on the margins of the Caspian Sea, was it Charles Leclerc who made the difference, or did the red car show a leap in quality compared to the first three races?
In Saturday’s sprint, Charles tried to challenge the Red Bull cars and quickly realized that he would not have had the pace to contain the unleashed Sergio Perez, while he managed to defend against Max Verstappen’s RB19, seriously damaged in the left part (there is talk of a performance loss of four tenths per lap) due to the visible tear after a close contact with George Russell’s Mercedes.
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Aware that it took only 17 laps of the Sprint to encounter tyre wear issues with the mediums on the SF-23 car, Charles Leclerc listened to the engineers’ indications to set up a more defensive race against Aston Martin and Mercedes rather than attacking the Red Bulls, although he found himself leading the early stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Monegasque driver demonstrated a perfect tire management, sacrificing some performance to keep the hard tires alive in the final part of the stint, when Fernando Alonso with his fast Aston Martin could become a serious threat, after he managed to surprise Carlos Sainz in the early stages, putting himself in a waiting position in fourth place at the Baku City Circuit.
In the end, the Spanish veteran finished less than a second behind the little prince, but it must be said that Charles was aware that there would be no overtaking on the track because the SF-23 may not have the Red Bull’s DRS, but is able to defend against the Aston Martin.
Only a collapse of the white Pirelli tire could have given Aston Martin a chance of attacking the SF-23, but the Monegasque knew how to expertly manage the tires, banking the podium. Some believe that Fernando Alonso lost his chance to collect the poker of third places during qualifying, due to some issues with the mobile that did not work properly. Otherwise, starting from a better position on the grid, many feel Fernando Alonso had the potential to challenge the Ferrari SF-23 in terms of race pace.
We do not share the same opinion: the SF-23 ended the Baku weekend as the second fastest car on the track, ahead of Aston Martin and Mercedes. Certainly, the twenty-two seconds gap from Sergio Perez, the “king of city circuits” is a lot, but the fourth place that the Scuderia still occupies in the Constructors’ World Championship testifies how grim the start of the 2023 Formula One season has been, and only in this weekend it has become clear that there is some good potential to be extracted from the red car.
Fred Vasseur was right to want to give confidence to the group of technicians directed by Enrico Cardile, but it is reasonable to wonder if Ferrari had a perfect weekend in Azerbaijan. Charles Leclerc certainly did. Carlos Sainz certainly not: the Spanish driver seemed to be in serious difficulty in the pitfalls of Baku. But neither did the team achieve all its objectives: the Maranello team had started the Baku weekend convinced of challenging the Red Bulls, or at least being very close to them.
Charles’ pole positions had supported the hopes, but Saturday’s race immediately dampened the faint enthusiasm. After all, with only one free practice session, no one had managed to get an idea of the effects and behaviors of the Pirelli compounds.
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