Anyone who started the new Formula 1 championship with the goal of taking Grand Prix victories and after three rounds finds himself without a podium finish and only 4th in the World Championship is automatically forced to take action. Nevertheless, Ferrari team boss Frédéric Vasseur responded to Melbourne’s clear round with some courageous comments: “We’ve made progress.”
As in the two previous races, Ferrari again failed to fully exploit the potential of its SF-23 single-seater. “We didn’t do a good job in Saturday’s qualifying and were beaten badly,” admitted Fred Vasseur. The Ferrari is better in qualifying than the grid positions 5 and 7 which Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc started from.
The reasons for the disappointment on Saturday are once again operational. Charles Leclerc deviated from the agreed preparation tactics for the tires at the last second and started the fast lap after just one warm-up lap with tires that were too cold. Carlos Sainz ran into traffic on his two preparatory laps and made a mistake under braking for the first corner that cost him two tenths.
Clear improvement as compared to Jeddah
Frederic Vasseur was even happier with the race. Mainly because the long run had been the weakness of the Ferrari until then. But this time Carlos Sainz kept both tire compounds in good shape over the distance, despite being forced to attack, as the Spanish driver had to recover a lot of ground once his opponents got a free tyre-change with the first red flag.
The Spaniard worked his way up from 11th to 4th in just 15 laps and was just 3.7 seconds behind the duel for second place between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso just before the second red flag: “We were able to keep up with the speed of the two,” said the Spaniard after the race.
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Fred Vasseur recognized this as a clear improvement over Jeddah, where Ferrari lost a lot of time on the hard tyres: “We took a different development direction in Melbourne, which improved the balance of the car and thus the use of tyres.” What exactly Ferrari changed remained a secret. Since the engineers had not registered any new aerodynamic parts, it must be related to chassis developments, weight distribution or another setup direction.
Important Baku race for Ferrari
With Ferrari continuing to target Red Bull, Frederic Vasseur is aware that the SF-23 will need significant development steps to close the gap. “We’re not that far away in one lap if we manage to get the absolute maximum out of the car,” the French manager believes, while at the same time admitting: “Red Bull are clearly superior to us in the race.”
His explanation: The Ferrari can cover up its weaknesses with the extra grip of fresh tires. But that doesn’t work in the long run. “The Red Bull is easier to drive. If your car is designed too sharply, the gap widens with every lap because the drivers cannot constantly compensate for that.” According to the former Alfa Romeo boss, the improved balance was a first step in the right direction: “We still have to confirm that in Baku on a different type of track.”
Despite the large gap to Red Bull, Ferrari continues to believe in its concept. Contrary to the announcements in Italy that a Ferrari with different sidepods is already in the production loop for a major upgrade in Spain, the big picture of the SF-23 will not change, according to German automobile magazine ‘Auto Motor und Sport’.
Further development makes sense
Scuderia Ferrari is increasing the pace of development. In Baku, the car will feature track-specific modifications to the wings. Only minor modifications are expected in Miami as well. The major upgrade initially planned for the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona should be brought forward to Imola.
The next stages of expansion will build on what the engineers know. “They still see a lot of potential in this car. It makes sense to develop it further,” asserts Fred Vasseur. It will only be possible to determine from the middle of the season whether there will be a dead end at some point and other concepts will leave more room for manoeuvre.
If you came to this conclusion, it would be practically impossible to make a technical turnaround during the season within the framework of the budget cap and the wind tunnel restrictions. That would then be a “decision for the future”. But the French manager doesn’t want to believe that at the moment. He tells his troops to focus on their own tasks and not look left and right too much. Even if he allows himself to take a dig at Red Bull: “The penalty for exceeding the cost cap was too low. But that shouldn’t be an excuse.”
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