The historic Ferrari racing team is navigating between the present and the future. Several maneuvers are currently in progress. On the technical front, understanding the car, the capricious and often quirky SF-23, is a top priority among the dirty faces to be resolved. Unfortunately, the 675 project hasn’t had the best of luck. Despite some positive characteristics such as traction and performance in guided sections, these aspects have not always been consistently present.
This is primarily because the Italian single-seater has an extremely narrow operating window. If drivers and engineers can access it, the red car performs at its best. However, the quirky behavior severely limits performance, and as emphasized by Charles Leclerc himself yesterday, pushing the SF-23 to the limit is a truly challenging task. This condition essentially brings “the two Carlos” closer to making errors.
After various departures, including Mattia Binotto and David Sanchez, Enrico Cardile is now heading the technical project. In the recent past, this Italian engineer has demonstrated good skills by proposing interesting technical solutions, subsequently copied by competitors. In recent months, we reported that the management had decided to temporarily entrust the direction to the 48-year-old from Arezzo. As a first measure, Enrico Cardile requested and obtained the opportunity to continue developing the SF-23.
This attitude contrasts with the recent past when, once it was understood that the car was not up to the task, Ferrari always preferred to abandon the ongoing project and focus most of its efforts on the car of the future. Things have changed in the 2023 racing campaign, with the belief that gathering as much data as possible about the single-seater can offer several advantages for the upcoming championship.
Vasseur Announces Ferrari’s Organizational Chart
In addition to the usual plethora of banal statements regarding the excitement of racing at the home Grand Prix, with promises to give their best to “please” the supporters, the team principal of the red team took stock of the workgroup. The leadership of a racing team must be well-defined to perform their duties optimally. The manager from France is trying to “go shopping” abroad. This involves bolstering the sports management with fresh and, why not, brilliant minds.
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Meanwhile, some positions have finally been defined. All the personnel working on the car’s chassis at the Maranello team report to Enrico Cardile, the current technical director of Scuderia Ferrari. While Enrico Gualtieri is responsible for the power unit project of the team. However, the staff is by no means complete, and the hiring campaign is more open than ever. Although it’s not a matter of deficiencies but rather normal recruitment, it’s clear to most that some positions in GES (Gestione Sportiva, Ferrari’s racing department) are still vacant.
The workforce is weak, and it’s not difficult to understand. Despite the Frenchman claiming the opposite, the idea that the need to improve drives the team to acquire new technicians is undeniable. The operation is quite complicated. We know that. Several factors negatively affect it: very long timings to respect the so-called gardening leave, “tight” compensation packages to adhere to the budget cap, and the great difficulty in convincing various individuals to join Maranello.
Investments are ongoing but must be targeted and, above all, factual. Settling is not the policy used. They are looking for top-tier individuals who believe they can make a difference and turn the team’s fortunes around. This is probably why the timelines will be even longer than expected. At the same time, there are still many races to be held, from which constant improvement is expected.
We are not talking about mere competitiveness. Instead, we are referring to the organization of the weekend, which, of course, must undergo a mental “cleanup” at the strategic level. There is too much unbridled confusion within the Italian garage. This element effectively further aggravates the crippled status of the team. A workgroup is built on this as well before aiming high and asserting the right to compete at the top of the premier motorsport category.
Source: Alessandro Arcari for FUnoanalisitecnica
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