After three days of testing spent to find a generic starting point for the car, on Friday in Sakhir, Ferrari started working on the specific set-up for the first round of the 2023 Formula 1 championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc took to the track in the first free practice session with the new high-load rear wing, glimpsed on Saturday during the testing session before the DRS failure.
Carlos Sainz instead ran with the less-loaded wing introduced in last season in the Canadian Grand Prix and used for the entire winter testing session. The comparison, which also includes a new Beam Wing, tells a lot about the work and the considerations currently evaluated by the Maranello team.
Considering the characteristics of the Bahrain circuit, ahead of the race weeke many expected the Italian side to opt without reservations for the high load specification. The impression is in fact that the level of load has increased compared to the tests, as evidenced by the use of a different Beam Wing to extract more air from the diffuser and generate more load from the floor. The fact, however, that Scuderia Ferrari evaluated whether to continue to use the rear wing more download, while only a year ago the F1-75 mounted the specific to maximum load, is indicative of two aspects, as explained by Carlo Platella for formulapassion.it:
Firstly, we have the confirmation of how much the improved efficiency of the new Ferrari challenger. Even more important, however, are the evaluations made by the team in terms of balance, to contain any phenomena of understeer and oversteer with the awareness that sometimes the second originates from the first. The choice of the downforce level of the SF-23 is closely linked to what is what currently is the weak point of the SF-23. The high load wing would help in correcting the overall balance. If, on the other hand, the instability in fast corners derives from understeer on the straights, and therefore from excessive steering angles, increasing the load at the rear would further weaken the front.
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In the final stages of the practice session, Charles Leclerc returned to the low load specification shared with his teammate. The suspicion, however, is that the decision was forced by structural problems, with the high load wing that has been seen swinging dangerously, not adequately supported by the single support pylon, against the two supports of the other specific. From the outside it is therefore unknown if the final choice was a decision of the team or if it was dictated by other reasons. The only certainty at the moment is that Ferrari works to increase the level of load compared to the tests, with an eye, however, on the efficiency on the straights and on the balance.
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