Following the 2023 winter pre-season testing session, which was held a few days ago in Sakhir, the teams have remained in Bahrain to analyze all the data, but also recover some energy in view of the first weekend of the upcoming Formula 1 season, when things will start to get serious. The first “results” from the testing session speak of a Red Bull RB19 which is clearly ready for the new campaign, while the Ferrari SF-23 seems to be a step behind with the technicians looking for the right balance. Mercedes is instead far behind at the moment, awaiting the first package of updates. Toto Wolff’s team is now more focus to defend against Aston Martin than worrying Ferrari and, above all, Red Bull.
The new cars have proved overall more reliable and easy to drive than they were one year ago. Which allowed the drivers to push – at times – more decisively, without fear of breaking sensitive parts such as the floor. In the lateral compression phase, or when passing on the curbs, the 15 mm increased height of the edges has relieved the engineers of some thoughts. “Last year we were terrified of breaking everything, this year – for various reasons – much less, so the drivers seem to have pushed even more to test the new tires” said an engineer at the end of the work, as reported by F1 experts Giuliano Duchessa and Piergiuseppe Donadoni for formu1a.uno.
The new Pirelli tyres were a semi-mysterious object for obvious reasons. Despite the dedicated tests with old cars and the many simulations, taking to the track for the first time with new cars can always reveal different things. Mario Isola said he was satisfied with the team’s work, adding that the confidence of the drivers seemed to increase significantly as kilometers were more and more covered.
The new tires are 1.5 seconds faster on average than the old tyres, which leads us to think that the 2023 pole will be sought set with a lap time of about 1’29”. The target was the reduction of understeer by increasing front grip. The new tire structure has already fulfilled its promise of significantly lower tire pressure requirements. Something that drivers obviously like as it results in more grip. On the other hand, the car balance has changed radically compared to last season.
The RB19 is already ready, Ferrari works to extract the potential of the SF-23.
Although the best lap time went to Checo Perez, the pre-season testing session awarded the first gold medal of the season to Max Verstappen. The Dutchman impressed by how easy it was for him to set fast lap times and – even more – to show a race pace that clearly makes him the favourite for the start of the 2023 Formula One championship.
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The RB19 is simply an improved RB18 in less strong areas and went perfectly in all conditions at the Bahrain International Circuit. After all, the designers of Milton Keynes rarely make mistakes and with that working basis there was no need to invent or distort well-known and successful concepts. If anything, the Austrian side took them to extremes, as seen in the lateral excavation of the sidepods and in the surprisingly even flatter front wing configuration, with very low drag.
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The latest addition to the reigning champion team has impressed, while the Ferrari SF-23 has been a spoiled diva, but remains the only car able of challenging Red Bull if all the corrections work. Mercedes has a lot of ground to recover, as the German side still appears to inherit unsolved problems from last year, with missed targets already announced by Lewis Hamilton during the presentation, while Aston Martin may have kept promises based on simulation data and seem able to fight for the podium, at least in the start of the new season. The midfield area, on the other hand, remains rather unknown in terms of hierarchies and does not allow for too many predictions.
If Max Verstappen above all can be considered very satisfied with the great feeling quickly created with his RB19, the challengers are fighting to limit the initial gap. Ferrari seems to be the only car capable of worrying the world champion team, despite the sessions not completely positive, especially for Charles Leclerc.
The SF23 still has an important potential to express, especially because it was very fast in terms of pure performance. Obviously only the technicians know the work plan and how much margin they will have to fix the long run, which was not always convincing during the three days of testing in Bahrain.
The new rear wing fitted to Charles Leclerc’s SF-23 car on the last day of testing is a clear evolution of the inherited specification and showed the need to use a slightly different load via the main plane. Unfortunately, a DRS issue did not allow the Maranello engineers to collect a lot of data for simulations. On the other hand, having anticipated it made it possible to bring out what would have been a problem during the race weekend and therefore to have more time to react ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
SF-23: the balancing problem is related to the load level and ride height, aerodynamic corrections are coming soon.
During these three days of testing, the technicians on the Shakir track carried out some rather extreme tests in terms of suspension stiffness and ground clearance, as confirmed by formu1a.uno. The so-called ‘scan’ then began to bear fruit, suggesting some of the best options for a good basic setup to make the most of the new Ferrari SF-23.
A source confirmed to formu1a.uno that the Ferrari SF-23 run higher to limit harmful bouncing. It was not an ideal situation, but a rather conservative one. Starting from free practice, Ferrari might go with a more aggressive approach here again [by lowering the ride height]. The car can certainly be much faster than the F1-75, nevertheless it seems more complicated to take to the limit due to an aerodynamic limitation on the front discovered by the technicians. The car suffered from understeer, particularly with less grip due to the higher track temperatures. Something unexpected that put Charles Leclerc in more difficulty than Carlos Sainz. A limitation that has to be corrected for aerodynamicists; the long chat between the Monegasque and David Sanchez concerned this issue.
The most positive factor, on the other hand, has to do with the efficiency gain, which has been significant. According to an opposing engineer, the GPS of the Ferrari SF-23 showed that it is potentially 10 km/h faster than the F1-75 at the same load. Contrary to 2022, it is therefore possible that we will see SF-23 in better shape in Jeddah than in Bahrain. Meanwhile, the new rear wing – with more downforce – will be available for the race weekend, the front one updated in element design should arrive by Melbourne.
Red Bull impressed and showed a clear lead on long runs. It remains to be seen what will happen when everyone turns up the power unit modes, there the SF-23 could have a power advantage of 2/3 tenths, however, at least on paper, it may not be enough to fight for the race win right away. Ferrari’s performance always generates hysteria, but balance is needed from the fans and the media. If the potential is there, it will come out.
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