The new Ferrari single-seater is making a lot of noise, just a few days before the start of the 2023 Formula One championship. The winter pre-season testing session at the Bahrain International Circuit showed us an SF-23 car with ups and downs, and still difficult to decipher from a performance point of view. Based on the data and the feedback from the track, the car seems to have great potential compared to last season’s F1-75, but at the same time it is more difficult to set up. Furthermore, according to the latest rumors, the SF-23 would be able to reach a top speed of 10 km/h more than the F1-75 with the same aerodynamic load.
Despite a quite nervous and understeering behavior, the SF-23 recorded the highest top speed of the three-day testing session in Sakhir. This ranking obviously needs to be taken with a grain of salt, as it is difficult to exactly establish the fuel loads and the setup configurations of other teams. Still, it would seem that the new Ferrari single-seater is more aerodynamically efficient than the F1-75.
“According to an opposing engineer, the GPS data recorded for the Ferrari SF-23 showed that it is potentially 10km/h faster than the F1-75 at the same downforce level” – reports Formu1a.uno, which is known to have inside information from the paddock. A diametrically opposite situation compared to last season, when the Ferrari car proved to be very fast in the corners, but often lagging behind Red Bull on the straights, which proved crucial most of the times.
Especially with DRS open, in fact, the RB18 has often had an easy time passing Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, demonstrating an extremely fast car on the straight. The situation seems to have reversed this year, with the SF23 very fast on the straight, but still lacking downforce in the corners.
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Ferrari ran the entire testing session at the Bahrain International Circuit with a low/medium downforce wing. The Maranello mechanics tried to take to the track with a highly loaded wing on the final day of pre-season testing, however they could not collect much data due to a technical issue with the DRS. Still according to Formu1a.uno, however, the new rear wing will be available for the race weekend in Bahrain. Instead, the new front wing with an updated design of the elements should be ready for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
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