The 2023 Formula One season for Ferrari is a flower that fails to bloom. Little sunshine, scarce water, and poorly fertilized soil prevent the plant from following its natural course. Moving away from botanical metaphors, it is not wrong to assert that Ferrari has been the disappointment of the 2023 Formula One season. Starting with a thousand promises, it has become lost in an unfinished restructuring whose effects are being reflected in the SF-23 car, which seems inert even under intense efforts like the one seen in Spain.
In Maranello, all thoughts – and subsequent efforts – are focused on finding solutions to the problems and the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix, the last race in June before a month, July, that is literally ablaze with four races in five weekends: Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, and Belgium. It’s an intense streak that would exhaust even a bull, no pun intended.
Ferrari: Five GPs to assess the SF-23
Five Grand Prix races, forty days or a little more, during which the fate of Ferrari’s season hangs in the balance. With the package of updates presented in Barcelona, the Maranello team has not resolved the flaws that afflict a car that was designed somewhat flawed, considering it is light-years away from Red Bull and often has to bow down to Aston Martin and Mercedes.
Such problems can always be remedied. And that’s what the engineers in red are trying to do. The outcome of this, almost desperate, attempt will judge the year of the Prancing Horse. Barcelona provided some indications to the men of the Italian team who do not want to throw the towel just yet.
According to Jock Clear, Performance Engineer for the Italian team, the updates introduced in Catalonia have improved the SF-23 race pace. The British technician explained that the progress was estimated at about two to three tenths per lap. This estimation was based on comparing the performance of the baseline specification with the evolved one.
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Encouraging signs? Certainly, but we cannot speak of definitive solutions. In addition to the insights provided by the data analysis, there are also impressions, those that arise from those who immerse themselves firsthand in the cockpit and feel in their own bodies whether something is working or not. The interventions made on the SF-23 may have improved the race pace by a few tenths, but they have not been able to contain the true issues of the project, as explained F1 expert Diego Catalano for the Italian website FUnoanalisitecnica.
Ferrari: SF-23 like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The drivers find themselves with a car that struggles with tire degradation. Hence, there is a diametrically opposite behavior based on the sessions. A car that seems like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: sufficiently fast on Saturdays, excessively slow in races due to unpredictable behavior.
Charles Leclerc, speaking about the red car, highlighted how it is an unsolved dilemma. The driver painted a harsh picture when he explained that with one type of tire, the car experiences understeer that suddenly transforms into oversteer with another type of compound. This happens in the same race and under the same conditions. And with the same driving style. Quite a problem.
“We need to focus on ourselves and try to understand what is happening with the tires and put them in the right window more often,” was the epitaphic comment from the Monegasque following a Spanish Grand Prix that certainly won’t be remembered for long. Ferrari must engage in a dual understanding, which removes certainties: besides getting to grips with the tires, it is necessary to try to overcome the Spanish update, maximizing it in the best possible way in the upcoming, tightly-packed sequence of races.
Ferrari will have to face, study, and overcome the inconsistencies that the SF-23 is showing quite clearly. It goes without saying that, in terms of priorities, the top priority is not the pursuit of pure performance, but rather the fundamental understanding of the car. Only through this fundamental step will they achieve a genuinely competitive car capable of moving Ferrari away from the number one spot on the 2023 podium.
After Charles Leclerc’s third-place finish in Baku, there has been no glory for the Prancing Horse, which is far behind Red Bull and sees itself overtaken by Aston Martin and Mercedes on both sides, the latter seemingly having made significant strides with the new package presented in Monaco.
Charles Leclerc, along with his team, is eager to overcome the difficulties as soon as possible in order to prepare for a 2024 Formula One season that aims to be the definitive redemption. Moreover, it will soon be time to renegotiate the contract, which expires at the end of the next championship. Doing so in a context of poor competitiveness could revive the rumors of a possible departure that the driver himself had to suppress with declarations of love for Ferrari.
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