The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which will take place at the Imola circuit on May 21st will not only represent the opening race of the European season, but the sixth round of the 2023 championship will have a particularly important value for Scuderia Ferrari in terms of prospects for this season: the Maranello team should introduce a revised and corrected SF-23 car, according to Italian journalist Franco Nugnes.
The Scuderia has launched a chrono-program that should lead to fielding the revised and corrected SF-23 at Enzo and Dino Ferrari and face the rest of the 2023 Formula One season with the hope of challenging not so much the Red Bull RB19, but hoping to establish itself as the second fastest car on track, a status which today is occupied with merit by Aston Martin.
It is curious to note that Mercedes is also counting on putting the W14 Evo on the track at Imola, a decision which has been talked about a lot in recent weeks. This means that the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix risks becoming a significant moment for the world championship.
The initial plan was to arrive with the modifications in time for the Azerbaijan GP, after the three-week break following this weekend’s race in Australia, but making the new parts requires a longer construction phase. As a result, the Italian side’s 2023 Formula 1 campaign should start on the banks of the Santerno river.
The interventions that technical director Enrico Cardile is working on address various aspects of the single-seater: Motorsport Italy reports of a new floor and we had already talked about a rear suspension which should be aimed at greater control of the height from the ground thanks to anti-dive in acceleration, but the SF-23 is also destined to change its shapes, so let’s expect an intervention on the sidepods.
Not that Ferrari will go in the direction of the Red Bull RB19 in terms of sidepods, but certainly the design that made Ferrari unique will not remain. The goal is to make the SF-23 work at the right minimum height from the ground that is in line with that measured in the wind tunnel: the Maranello technicians had concentrated a lot on research into aerodynamic efficiency, to reduce drag, but they have not given due consideration to porpoising.
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The bouncing at certain speeds requires that the floor of the car be lifted off the ground to prevent it from being damaged by touching curbs and asphalt. As a result, a harmful loss of downforce is recorded. With less vertical force, the energy input to the tires is also reduced, resulting in more wear of the tires that work outside the ideal operating window.
Ferrari, therefore, decided to change the development plans of the SF-23 which were to be spread over the course of the season, with constant updates, preferring to dip into the wallet to start the evolution of the car which will gobble up most of the resources granted by the budget cap.
We shouldn’t be surprised: it’s a move that tries to save a championship after a very slow start in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In Maranello they remain convinced that the potential of the car is clearly higher than what we have seen so far, which is why the interventions are functional to enhance the “hidden” qualities of the SF-23
Fred Vasseur has not started the purges requested from outside, but is focusing on a recovery plan: he has appointed the figure who has taken the place of David Sanchez in the role of Head of Vehicle Concept. This is an internal promotion and he is said to be a trusted Italian engineer. Together with Enrico Cardile and the head of aerodynamics, Diego Tondi, it will be up to this trio to find the keys to relaunching Ferrari’s fortunes.
In the meantime, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will have to play in defense: in Melbourne there will be some updates resulting from the enormous amount of data that has been analyzed after the first two GPs. But Ferrari is aware that in Australia things may be similar to what was seen in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, the Maranello team does not want to start the Melbourne already defeated.
Friday’s free practice session will help us understand how things will stand: if from the first laps we see a good adaptation of the SF-23 to the street circuit of Melbourne, we can hope for a less difficult weekend than in Jeddah (where Ferrari was the fourth fastest car!) otherwise let’s already start focusing on Imola.
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