A perfect Ferrari was needed, but what we saw was a generous Ferrari. At the moment when they should have taken advantage of their struggling opponent, read Mercedes, Maranello, instead of delivering the deadly blow, extended a hand. There were 22 points of gap before the Brazil Grand Prix, and now there are 20. Only two points gained with a half-sprint and, above all, with a disastrous W14, certainly in its worst form seen this season.
With just two races left, the chances of a comeback are becoming slimmer, especially since McLaren has confirmed itself as the second force, Sergio Perez seems to have returned to doing what he knows (driving), and the Aston Martin cars have risen like the phoenix. In this context, they risk fighting for less important positions that offer few points.
For several races now, Frédéric Vasseur had been calling for perfection. But yesterday, the Scuderia was anything but precise. It’s not the first time one of the two drivers has been forced to watch the race from the pit box since the start. In Qatar, it happened to Carlos Sainz, yesterday it happened to Charles Leclerc in a much noisier manner: a blatant display in true Prancing Horse style, no need for sugar-coated expressions that wouldn’t capture the situation for what it is.
From the São Paulo GP, there is very little good to take back to Maranello. The SF-23 was the fourth force on the grid. Beating (nicely) Mercedes without practically recovering anything is an additional demerit for a team that can’t wait for this 2023 season, a true ordeal with only one highlight, to end.
It would be superfluous to give a race summary; the pivotal moment occurred during the formation lap. Ferrari #16 spun, hitting the barriers on the outside of Curva Ferradura. It appeared to be a driver error, but shortly after, thanks to an eloquent radio message, the mystery was unveiled: Charles stated that he had a hydraulic problem. The Ferrari driver could only say goodbye to the race, delivering a blow to the hopes of finishing ahead of Red Bull.
Immediately after the race, while his colleagues were on the track, Charles Leclerc spoke. And he was not at all happy. “This year certainly has not been one of the luckiest for me. Maybe a trip to Lourdes will help, I don’t know what to do. I lost the power steering on the wheel, and then the rear wheels locked by themselves, and I hit the wall. Today I couldn’t do anything. I’m angry and sorry. Everything was set up to do well in the race, and in the end, I’m going home after not even three corners. It hurts. The best I can do is perform well in the car. When I put my helmet back on, everyone can count on me to give 150%. But right now, it hurts; we’ll talk about it with the team.”
But what stood out was a brief conversation with a team member to whom Charles asked about the nature of the problem, receiving an evasive answer that the driver did not conceal, stating he couldn’t speak. These curious mysteries make the situation even more unpleasant. After the emotional turmoil calmed down and the emotional temperatures were brought under control, Charles Leclerc seemed more composed in his words given to Ferrari’s social media channels:
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!
“It was a disappointing day for me. Starting from the front row, we hoped to earn important points for the Constructors’ Championship, but unfortunately, I retired even before the start. At the entry of turn 6 on the formation lap, I suddenly lost the power steering, and the rear wheels locked, sending me into the barriers. Now, I only think about the last two races of the season. We will fight until the end to finish the championship with the best possible position. I will give my all in Las Vegas in two weeks.”
Indeed, the new American circuit might offer some chances to the SF-23, as it could highlight the car’s speed characteristics and excellent traction that has been consistently demonstrated in this season. But this is a discussion that will be addressed later; right now, it’s essential to understand what happened, not only in terms of reliability but also in terms of performance because the car, after a strong front row, fell into a kind of technical anonymity. It’s a shame not to have seen Charles in action with his new set of soft tires at his disposal, which adds to the regret.
This bitterness is not hidden by Fred Vasseur, who doesn’t mince his words: “What happened with Leclerc is more than disappointing. We had bet everything on the race; we hadn’t used a new set in qualifying to save it for the GP. We could have done the race with three sets of new tires, which would have been a huge opportunity for us, even more so considering the results of the others. Charles is certainly disappointed, as are we, but that’s how it went, a knife twisted in the throbbing wound.”
On the nature of the problem, here are the comments from the French manager: “We haven’t understood the reason yet; we need to analyze the car. We need to focus on the next race because this weekend we had a better pace than Mercedes, and we could have recovered a lot. It was a problem with the system that controls the engine, and it turned off, but we don’t know the cause yet. It wasn’t a driver error, and I perfectly understand his reaction.”
It’s true, Fred, Ferrari has undoubtedly fared better than Mercedes. However, they were 50 seconds behind the usual Max Verstappen, and they were never able to contend with Lance Stroll, someone who this season is hardly remembered for remarkable achievements. Some deep reflection is needed in this regard, even though, after the race, the former Sauber driver tries to provide an explanation that honestly convinces very few. Read, and then everyone will form their own opinion.
“The problem is that when you start behind, you’re doing laps that are half a second slower. Thus, the gap increases. Today, we obviously didn’t have Max Verstappen’s pace, but it’s not representative. There’s no doubt that we couldn’t keep up with Max, but starting with Charles in front, with cleaner air, we would have been faster.”
The feeling is that they don’t want to look reality in the face because between Carlos and Max, there’s a group that includes the usual McLaren and the Aston Martin, which, with a sudden surge, has started to make the package introduced in Austin work, a package that had been criticized too quickly while the Silverstone team preached calm.
“In ten days, we will return to Las Vegas, and today we showed that we have a better pace than Mercedes. There are still two races to go, and we will do our best, and we will give it our all to recover. Will we change the engine? If there are no problems, it doesn’t make sense to incur a penalty for replacing the power unit. I don’t think there are any problems in that regard. Lately, in this final phase, we should only think about beating Mercedes for the second position, but the problems are elsewhere.” – the French manager explained at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
In this scenario, Carlos Sainz’s race was almost overlooked. After the initial start, he had put the clutch of his car under scrutiny. The Spaniard did his best given the technical conditions. In the end, a subdued sixth place was the result, an ode to the desire to perform without being able to do so. “I think the race ended in the position we deserved,” Carlos Sainz honestly began.
“Aston Martin was faster than us, a bit like in Zandvoort, on a circuit with longer and more degrading corners. In this context, the AMR23 seems to have recovered. McLaren and Red Bull were in a different league. Perhaps we could have fought with Stroll if I had had a better start, but we had a clutch problem all weekend that affected us.”
“For the rest, it was a two-stop race. When I saw this track, I understood that with this year’s car, it wouldn’t be easy. In qualifying, we managed to be fast in Q1 and Q2, but in the race and with this type of circuit for 71 laps, it was challenging for us in terms of balance and tires. Like I said, it reminded me of Zandvoort, where the Alpine was strong, and the Aston Martin had achieved a podium.”
Ferrari’s hope is that Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi will normalize the values, allowing them to fight against Mercedes. Provided that these perfect weekends, of which Vasseur has often spoken, but which have been missing in the recent appearances, finally come into play…
Source: Diego Catalano for FUnoanalisitecnica
Leave a Reply