56 points to recover for the Maranello team
Mercedes 247, Ferrari 191. In between, Aston Martin with 196. That’s the Constructors’ Championship standings in the 2023 F1 World Championship after the halfway point of the season. Starting from this weekend at the Zandvoort circuit located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, near the North Sea coast line, the teams will return to the track, and the Netherlands will mark the first of ten opportunities for Ferrari to close the gap that separates them from Mercedes in order to hold on to the second place in the Constructors’ standings they achieved in 2022.
Ferrari’s team principal, Frederic Vasseur, addressed the topic of the duel with Mercedes in the second half of the Formula One season.
The head of the Maranello Scuderia emphasized during a press conference that something special will be needed to bridge the points gap that currently separates the three-pointed star from the Red team: “Mercedes is quite far ahead in terms of points. In the first half of the season, however, we missed several opportunities. We need to do a better job at being more opportunistic. To catch up with Mercedes in the standings, we’ll definitely need to do something special. But for me, it’s much more important to reach their level in terms of pace. This means staying ahead of them in qualifying and improving a bit in the race. I don’t know if doing so will surpass them in the standings, but for me, it’s important to make a step forward in performance.”
In Belgium before the summer break, on a fast track like Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, the SF-23 was faster than the Mercedes in both Qualifying and the Race. Carlos Sainz’s retirement due to contact with Oscar Piastri at the start prevented Ferrari from collecting a larger points haul, but even by fielding two W14 cars with different setups (low downforce for Lewis Hamilton, high downforce for George Russell), Mercedes couldn’t overcome Charles Leclerc. The challenge for Ferrari will be to prove themselves on a high downforce circuit like Zandvoort.
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