Who knows if Scuderia Ferrari learned their lesson on Sunday at the Silverstone circuit in the British Grand Prix. Team Principal Frederick Vasseur, appealing to his usual optimism, said there is something to learn from certain days. However, it is difficult to see the glass as half full in a race that saw Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz struggle from start to finish, sliding into ninth and tenth positions.
The Safety Car, deployed due to the Ferrari engine catching fire on Magnussen’s Haas, favored the rivals who had not yet made their pit stop. Another bitter blow. However, it would be an excuse to seek the reasons for the defeat in adverse circumstances. The Reds lacked speed, the pace to stay attached to the train of McLarens and the elusive Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, who then pulled away.
It was a step backward compared to the good performances in Canada and Austria, which had given hope for a turning point. The old refrain returned on the fast corners of Silverstone. One must resign oneself to the fact that the Prancing Horse will continue to experience highs and lows for the rest of the season, which is already marked. Embracing Red Bull’s philosophy and introducing aerodynamic developments is not enough to change the nature of a project with too many inherent limitations. However, it will be absolutely necessary to achieve it on next year’s car, finding more downforce and balance. Therefore, after the summer break, with the return to Zandvoort and Monza, all the engineers’ efforts will be directed towards the 2024 Formula 1 car.
The SF-23 single-seater will be evolved in the second part of the 2023 Formula 1 season with new parts currently in production in Maranello and planned developments. However, the focus will be on looking forward, searching for effective solutions to transfer to the future Ferrari. Moreover, this exercise is also useful in terms of cost management according to the budget cap, optimizing investments.
If anything, the doubts concern the fact that the team’s technical leadership has not changed and will not change during this journey. The lack of a technical director continues to be a concerning anomaly (the assault on Pierre Waché of Red Bull failed), and the absence of a managing director who could possibly support Frederic Vasseur and provide continuity in the factory work.
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In the meantime, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will have to resign themselves to other passionate Sundays. Scuderia Ferrari is confident that it can be competitive in Hungary, where the race will take place in two weeks, as it is a twisty circuit without fast corners, while it is expected to struggle more at Spa-Francorchamps. Similarly, Zandvoort should be a favorable track, unlike Monza. In Singapore, the Reds should still perform well, while on the fast corners of Suzuka, the expectations are not as high. And so it goes until the end of the championship, with Austin, Las Vegas, and Abu Dhabi as other potential positive stops for the Maranello team.
We shall see. Certainly, the situation is not very different for Mercedes, Aston Martin, and McLaren, who have taken turns shining but have also had Sundays to forget like Ferrari. The alternation of results is a constant in the championship, behind the extraterrestrial Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, which does not run on planet Earth.
The hierarchies among the second, third, and fourth teams change depending on the circuits and the innovations introduced on the cars. And thus, Ferrari, second in Austria with Charles Leclerc, found itself at the bottom of the points zone the following Sunday… Furthermore, the strategy did not convince at the Silverstone circuit, with a choice of tires (mediums and hards) that was too conservative. The issue that forced the Monegasque driver to skip a free practice session did not help predict the correct duration of the soft tires. But in certain cases, the “remote garage” in Maranello should make a difference, and it didn’t. Another lesson to reflect upon.
