The uphill start to the 2023 Formula 1 championship and the many difficulties have immediately put Scuderia Ferrari in the center of criticism. Frederic Vasseur has spent his first weeks at the Italian side defending the team and avoiding controversies with the previous management. He has consistently shown confidence in the potential of the Maranello car, but it has not been seen on the track, except for rare flashes. Finally, Barcelona arrived, where the SF-23 EVO was brought to the track, born out of an accelerated development path following the disappointing first 100 km at Fiorano and the confirmations from the three days of testing in Bahrain.
Enrico Cardile and his team have thus changed the aerodynamic profile of the SF-23 and sought to achieve a more consistent and solid car. However, the growth process is not yet complete, at least concerning the current car.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc proud of Ferrari’s work, but Red Bull remains far ahead
In Spain, the SF-23 was equipped with new side pods and a new floor, mainly modified in the side skirt and the area near the rear wheels, also to better align with the new side pods. In Austria, another significant package was brought to the track, including a new front wing and a revised front section of the floor, drawing inspiration from the known concepts of the Red Bull RB19 and other cars like the Aston Martin AMR23. The progress at the Red Bull Ring was evident, at least on that type of track, but the work is not finished, and above all, the evaluations are continuously evolving. “I’m proud of the work they’ve done in Maranello and the amount of updates we’ve recently brought,” said Carlos Sainz, praising the team’s work at the factory.
Enrico Cardile now has more design freedom after David Sanchez’s departure, and together with his team, they are trying to lift the SF-23 and lay better foundations for 2024, as explained by F1 experts Paolo D’Alessandro, Piergiuseppe Donadoni and Giuliano Duchessa for formu1a.uno.
“What surprised me and made me happy was the team’s reaction after such a negative start to the season. It was incredible, and I never had any doubts that we were on the right track,” reiterated Charles Leclerc. In Austria, the Scuderia introduced a package of innovations three weeks ahead of the original schedule, a significant effort. At the home of the Milton Keynes team, the SF-23 performed well and outpaced Mercedes and Aston Martin, also taking advantage of a friendly track, but the responses will need to continue and come from Silverstone as well.
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“This track could be less straightforward than Spielberg because it will highlight our weaknesses more, with many fast corners,” said Charles Leclerc, who, however, looks at the weekend with positivity, curious to “test” the progress on the track. “It will be important to confirm the improvements we’ve made specifically in this type of corners. If we perform well here as well, it means we’re on the right track,” added the Spaniard, emphasizing another weak point of the SF-23 where he hopes to see progress and confirmation. “Usually, we are very sensitive to the wind, and here it is very open, and there is wind. We will see if we have improved in this aspect, as well as when we are in the slipstream.” The goal is to fight with Mercedes and Aston Martin, certainly not to beat Red Bull, on a track where the early-season SF-23 would have likely risked being lapped by the mighty RB19.
At Silverstone, the Scuderia will bring some updates to the track, but not a major package, such as a new medium-low load biplane beam wing, which incorporates concepts seen on Red Bull and Alpine since last year, also seen on the McLaren MCL60 in Baku. “We won’t have many updates this weekend,” revealed Charles Leclerc himself. However, the Monegasque driver confirmed Ferrari’s plans, stating that despite not having any major packages, they will not end the development of the 2023 Formula 1 car prematurely. “With the other updates that will come, we hope to reduce the gap with Red Bull even further.” Charles Leclerc remains confident and optimistic, preaching calmness but instilling confidence for the present and the future.
There is currently no discussion about the new Pirelli tires. When asked about it in the press conference, Charles Leclerc gave a clearly vague response (“I don’t know yet if they can be helpful or not”). The first to confirm the rumors we had heard last week in the Spielberg paddock was Checo Perez. “I think this new tire construction is made to favor certain teams,” the Mexican driver told us. “I think some teams will improve. I don’t know if it will be us or other teams, but there is certainly a distinctive change in the tire, especially in high-speed corners. So it will be interesting to see what happens with the degradation as we haven’t worked much on that when we tested them.” It remains an open question for all the teams on the eve of the Silverstone weekend.
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