The 2023 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix was a straightforward race that offers many points for analysis. This is because the Ferrari SF-23 showcased several updates, as did the W14, although it had already debuted in Monaco with the new aerodynamic package combined with the front suspension. It was finally able to fully test the new features. However, the result remains the same: Max Verstappen reaches 40 victories with a two-stop strategy, although he attempted to make it with just one.
Below, we have the tire choices made by the various teams for the race. At the start, most of the grid opted for the Soft tire, although both Red Bull cars preferred the Medium. The Soft tire provides extra grip, which can help gain positions in the first lap. Using the yellow-banded Pirelli tire facilitates better management of the compound during the stint. Starting from the back, Charles Leclerc chose the Hard tire to try to extend the first part of the Spanish Grand Prix as much as possible.
By keeping the Medium tire alive for enough laps, Max Verstappen could have considered a one-stop strategy. This couldn’t be done starting with the Soft tire. Overall, the degradation is quite high on this type of track, due to the macro roughness of the asphalt and the layout of the circuit.
From a strategic standpoint, this makes the undercut much more effective than the overcut. However, stopping too early puts the tire’s useful life in the next stint at risk. The longer the stint can be extended, the better.
During the first stint, Max Verstappen built a safety margin of around 8 seconds over Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton. From there, he managed the tire, raising the average lap times to around 1:20.0s. The two Mercedes cars performed very well, as we can see below with Hamilton producing the closest pace to the Dutchman. The Ferrari Spanish driver started better than Lewis Hamilton, but then his times deteriorated significantly. There is some tire degradation that needs to be managed better.
At the sixteenth lap, the first of the leading drivers to make a pit stop was Carlos Sainz, as the Spaniard was under pressure from Lewis Hamilton. For this reason, the Ferrari pit wall decided to fit him with a new set of medium tires, clearly opting for a two-stop strategy. In fact, by stopping so early, they conceded the position to the seven-time world champion, who was very competitive in terms of the wear of the soft tire.
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Charles Leclerc made his stop on the following lap. The choice was made because the driver never found a good feeling with the harder tire. Unable to make it work, they decided not to lose any more race time and fitted him with a new set of soft tires that were left over from Saturday’s qualifying session when Charles only took to the track in Q1. The Monegasque driver was definitely experiencing too much understeer.
At the twentieth lap, Fernando Alonso also made his pit stop, clearing the way for Carlos Sainz. They fitted the hard tire on the Aston Martin veteran’s car to attempt a one-stop strategy. However, the pit stop was rather early. On Friday, they seemed to be the third force behind Red Bull and Ferrari, but on Sunday they effectively became the fourth force.
Around lap 20, the strategists seriously started considering a one-stop strategy due to the durability of the red compound. This could have complicated Carlos Sainz’s race, as he would have had to make one more stop than the others. This would have forced him to maintain a considerably higher pace on the track, which the car did not allow. That being said, at lap 25, Lewis Hamilton returned to the pits to also fit the yellow tires, leaning, at least on paper, towards a two-stop strategy.
Mercedes thus split the strategy between the two drivers, giving George Russell the opportunity for a single stop. The Mercedes man re-entered the track 2.6 seconds behind Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari. However, Lewis Hamilton had a tire that was 16 laps fresher, which allowed him to overtake the Spaniard quite easily. Additionally, the Ferrari driver suffered from some graining on the front left tire.
The last ones to enter the pit lane were the Red Bull drivers, once again confirming their superior tire management. Max Verstappen made his stop on lap 27, while Sergio Perez made his on the following lap. Both were able to take advantage of the opportunity to attempt a one-stop strategy.
Looking at the data, we notice that in the second stint, both Charles Leclerc on the soft tire and Carlos Sainz on the medium tire were about one second slower per lap compared to Max Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, managed to lose no more than two tenths on average, although Max controlled the race with a good margin of safety. Sergio Perez also had a two-tenths average delay.
Carlos Sainz’s race became more and more complicated as both Mercedes easily passed him. Carlos urged his pit wall to keep him ahead of Perez, who was catching up from behind with the hard tire. However, the team started giving him Alonso’s lap times. They decided to anticipate the final pit stop by a few laps and fit the hard tire (42nd lap). With the white tire, it is imperative to maintain the correct temperature, as this compound has a higher operating window.
On the same lap, Leclerc also made a pit stop to fit another set of hard tires, a tire with which the Monegasque driver didn’t feel very comfortable. However, the strategists decided to fit the harder tire as there were still 23 laps remaining and they knew it could work better. That proved to be the case, but it once again demonstrates how inconsistent the SF-23 is. Charles explained that he used the same warm-up strategy between the first and third stints, always on the hard tire.
Obviously, the advantage that Red Bull and Mercedes built in the first stint was then carried through to the end of the race. Around lap 51, Hamilton and Perez fitted the soft tire to complete the final part of the race with a very fast pace. Russell had already made a pit stop to fit the soft tire a few laps earlier, while Verstappen made the final pit stop. In the closing laps where he was using the hard tire, Lewis worsened his lap times as he had lost some temperature.
Spanish Grand Prix 2023: Mercedes the second force, Ferrari the third
In the race, Mercedes made a not-so-big step forward, considering that they already had better tire management in previous races. With the updates to the side pods, but above all to the front suspension, they were able to consolidate this position, laying the groundwork to get closer to Red Bull. Technically, they found the stability of downforce that was lacking in many races.
Let’s recall Australia, where the vertical downforce of the W14 was inconsistent in certain speed ranges of the car. Furthermore, the cooler temperatures today have also helped on this track. The W14 puts a lot of energy into the tire, and having a less hot asphalt makes it easier to keep the compounds within the correct operating range, as explained by F1 expert Alessandro Arcari for funoanalisitecnica.com.
In Ferrari, they changed the concept of the side pods, but there hasn’t been the step forward that perhaps we were expecting. The results continue to speak clearly: Sainz starts second and finishes fifth, 20 seconds behind Hamilton. In fact, this is the “real” gap that the SF-23 is experiencing, not the one against Max. It’s exactly 3 tenths on average per lap that are missing in the race. Let’s try to understand what is lacking in the red car at the moment, although in the coming days we will go into more detail.
Analyzing the best lap of Sainz and Hamilton in the initial stint, a deficiency of the red car emerges in the high-speed corners where a lot of aerodynamic load is needed. Mercedes had tested two types of wings, one with less downforce “copying” the Ferrari way, and one with more downforce “copying” Red Bull. The latter specification adopted in the race proved to be the correct choice.
Perhaps the SF-23 was a bit too low on downforce, as Carlos Sainz admitted. We can indeed see that in turn 3 there is a difference of 10 km/h, while in turn 9 the gap rises to 15 km/h. It’s true that these are two different laps, as we compared Sainz’s third lap against Hamilton’s eighteenth lap, and obviously the W14 has less fuel on board. However, the comparison remains valid. In turn 9, the Spaniard is forced to back off the throttle, and at the final corner, he reaches only 5% throttle, while Mercedes manages to reduce the pedal only to 34%. A clear difference.
On the other hand, Aston Martin has taken a step back, without a doubt, as they already didn’t seem to be at the same level during the weekend. Strangely enough, the Silverstone team struggled on a track with high tire degradation, even though in the race, they suffered less than expected. This is an aspect that the British team will certainly have to investigate.
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