Ferrari updates not enough: competition developed better and SF-23 is simply slow

The 2023 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix has shown us yet another significant and total disappointing performance from the SF-23, confirming the limits of a car simply slower than the competition. Max Verstappen made Budapest a solitary dominion, quashing any hopes of victory (if there were any) for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.

The sore point for Ferrari comes mainly from the fact that McLaren has confirmed the enormous progress seen at the Silverstone circuit in the British Grand Prix on a completely different track layout and temperatures. “I have the feeling that we are not so far from the teams ahead of us in terms of performance, but we didn’t perform at our best this weekend. The potential is there, and we saw it on Friday, but we didn’t confirm it on Saturday or in today’s race,” commented Fred Vassuer after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Ferrari, the fourth force: Underperforming at Silverstone, and what about here?
Ferrari has shown the potential to be the fourth force, a phrase that has been redundant since the beginning of the 2023 Formula 1 championship, with some small sporadic exceptions. In any case, the SF-23 does not appear to be a car capable of consistently reaching the podium in every Grand Prix, a target that was aimed for with the updates made to the car. The optimism derived from the potential shown in Austria, with excellent feedback from the drivers, was immediately overshadowed at Silverstone. Hungary has, in fact, ruled that even though the updates work, there is still a long way to go to find the right balance.

McLaren has taken an impressive step forward, but the red car still seems to struggle, especially with the tires, compared to Mercedes. There are rumors in the paddock that the new carcass introduced at Silverstone has affected the balance of various cars. Some adapted better, like McLaren, while others did worse, like Aston Martin, with Fernando Alonso already strongly raising the issue at the end of qualifying. In post-race interviews, Carlos Sainz stated that the car’s performance curve decreases more rapidly than the competitors’ as the tire wears down, especially in relation to Mercedes. With the hard tires, Ferrari struggled towards the end of the race, which cost them the position compared to George Russell. The issue at Charles Leclerc’s pit stop cost the Monegasque valuable seconds, without which it would probably have been possible to attack Oscar Piastri, who had damage to the floor on his MCL60.

Starting Carlos Sainz on the red tires allowed him to have an excellent launch at the start, but the pace did not allow him to go any further. The race management from the pit wall foresaw that Charles Leclerc would undercut Carlos Sainz for the third stint, in order to compensate for the position lost by the driver due to the pit stop error.

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The penalty for speeding in the pit lane is just one of the many aspects that often lead to the SF-23 achieving even lower results than its performance would suggest. The qualifying session was even more disappointing than the race, considering that it was the moment of the weekend when Ferrari is closest to the top. However, now the SF-23 is a more neutral car: it sacrificed Saturday’s performance to avoid degradation issues on Sunday.

The developments on this SF-23 are not enough if others are also making progress.
The Red Bull RB19, with its fresh updates, dominated the Grand Prix. The two-tenths (in Hungary) from the new package were noticeable, but only on race day due to the setup compromises they opted for in the world champion’s garage. Checo Perez made a good comeback, and during the race, the Mexican was finally the second-fastest driver on the track after the untouchable Max Verstappen.

McLaren confirmed its position as the second force, although Mercedes was closer than it seemed after introducing additional updates involving the rear wing and front suspension, following the new front wing from Silverstone, with a development plan that, as we had announced, progresses in small steps at every new weekend.

Talking with technicians from the Ferrari team during this Hungarian weekend, progress has been made in terms of understanding the setup, which was the pre-set objective with the updates before the summer break. However, on the track, the situation remains the same. F1 is a world where no one stands still, not even if you’ve been dominating the championship since the beginning of the year like Red Bull. The main weakness of this year’s red car remains understanding these tires and generating grip as quickly as possible and for as long as possible in a wide window. The concept of the car must necessarily be rejected, and another path must be tried. With the introduction of the sliding skirts in Barcelona, there was a first step towards a car concept inspired by Red Bull, as explained by F1 expert Rosario Giuliana for formu1a.uno.

It is clear that it’s not enough to simply copy; the direction to take is undoubtedly that one if a definitive turning point is desired. McLaren and Mercedes have oriented their updates towards pure aerodynamic load research from the floor and bodywork, with mechanical updates as well, while Aston has somewhat lost its way since deciding to make modifications to the AMR23 to pursue efficiency. There’s no time to overthink because the Spa-Francorchamps weekend starts in just a few days. A fast and complex track where finding a difficult compromise is always challenging.

Aerodynamic efficiency is one of the strengths of the SF-23 single-seater, fast on the straights without becoming too unstable in configuration, and this aspect will surely help to achieve performance on the Belgian circuit. Will it be enough?