Reading the times from Friday practice session for the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche circuit, one would be concerned, with a situation even more tragic than the one seen in Bahrain two weeks ago.
In reality, Scuderia Ferrari’s work programme was completed successfully, with the team focusing a lot on the race plan, without ever really looking for pure performance in qualifying simulations, that is of no concern. After testing in the first free practice session, which also continued in the afternoon with flow viz on the rear wing, the Maranallo team showed some encouraging signs in terms of race pace. The updates brought to Jeddah have all remained on the two Ferrari SF-23 cars, with the single-pillar rear wing and a more loaded specification than that of Bahrain. The updates to the floor and endplate of the rear wing that have been confirmed by the team following the positive feedback, as explained by F1 experts Paolo D’Alessandro and Giuliano Duchessa for formu1a.uno
The qualifying simulations show of a gap of around 8 tenths – 1 second for the two SF-23 cars against the fastest Red Bull, Max Verstappen. However this gap cannot be true. The simulation of the fastest lap was not the main focus of Maranello’s work, with in particular a Power Unit still very much turned down until today’s Qualifying session, when Ferrari will unleash the horsepower along all the straights. The setup changes and the increase in downforce through the wings have improved the overall balance of the SF-23 which now appears more balanced and competitive in the slow sections, even if it still loses something in traction compared to the best car and above all lacks agility in the sections where there are fast and consecutive corners, such as at the end of the first sector. “This circuit is strange with specific characteristics that require dedicated work to achieve a good balance.” explained Carlos Sainz at the end of Friday practice.
The race pace simulations saw Carlos Sainz at the level of Max Verstappen for several laps, only to stop at 1.35.5 for three consecutive laps (against Max Verstappen’s 1.35.0) when he got into traffic. Ferrari thus called him back after a few laps to be able to fit him with the medium compound which, with Charles Leclerc, was doing well. The Spaniard also wanted to test the Medium, probably not too convinced of the Soft, which according to the team was a good choice and for this reason he wanted to do two separate long runs.
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The Monegasque with his stint on the Medium maintained a good pace, even improving, until he encountered traffic. After getting rid of those cars, however, he was unable to set the same lap times, losing about half a second. “Tomorrow we’ll try to get the most out of qualifying but, having to serve a ten-place penalty on the grid, we’ll focus mainly on the race and how to make up positions on Sunday.” the words of Charles Leclerc at the end of the day.
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