With the checkered flag waving on the Ferrari SF-23 car this afternoon, the winter testing session came to an end for the Italian side and the rest of the nine teams. Both drivers managed to complete a large number of laps, allowing Ferrari to be the third team to complete the most laps in the three days of testing with 416. However, if reliability seems to be no longer an issue, the SF23 showed some shortcomings from a driveability point of view, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz having to make a lot of corrections on the track in Sakhir.
With less than a week to go before the first free practice session in Bahrain, the Maranello team wants to fight for the race win from the very first round of the 2023 Formula 1 championship. The SF23 proved to be certainly fast on a qualifying lap, while it showed a lot of tire degradation on the race simulations. Tire degradation was one of the main weaknesses of the F1-75, which was a very fast car on Saturday but often not constant on Sunday.
In these three days of testing, the car has shown that it suffers a lot in the hotter temperatures, something the Red Bull RB19 does not seem to suffer from. However, as the sun went down and night came, the SF23 showed off an excellent race pace, especially on the hard tyre. On the other hand, the long runs on the C3s, the most critical tire at Ferrari so far, were not great.
We’ll see if, thanks to the data collected over these three days, Ferrari will be able to find the ideal balance, to be able to perform at its best even in the race next weekend. For now, Red Bull doesn’t seem to show any weaknesses, while Ferrari will still have to work hard to extract the maximum potential from the SF23.
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
At the end of the tests in Bahrain, here is a great photo gallery from day 3 with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in action at Sakhir with the SF23, before returning to the track next week for the first official weekend.

















Leave a Reply