Fred Vasseur feels challenge of switching F1 car concept mid-season is “very difficult” for any team. 'Very difficult' for any team to change entire car.

Scuderia Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur feels a change in Formula 1 car concept during the season represents a “very difficult” task for any team on the grid.

The Maranallo team was expected to challenge Red Bull for the titles this year, but has had a very poor start to the 2023 F1 campaign: a lack of performance of the SF-23 package and more reliability issues limited the Italian side’s real potential, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who were not able to score even one podium finish in the first three rounds of the championship, in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

This is a completely different scenario to how things went last year, when the Monegasque driver capitalized on the speed of the F1-75 to win two of the first three rounds. While Charles Leclerc was leading the Drivers’ standings, this year things went unexpectedly worse, as Ferrari have to duel Aston Martin and Mercedes for P2 behind runaway leaders Red Bull.

And Frederic Vasseur feels that while a concept change – that rivals Mercedes want to do as soon as possible with their 2023 F1 car, beginning with an upgraded package at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – would not be “very difficult” for any side, which is why the Maranello team is instead focusing on developing the aero concept of the SF-23 single-seater.

Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!

“You have to consider all the aspects of this, to do a new project during the season,” -the French manager explained in a recent interview for the media during the April break caused by the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix – “To start from scratch, to do a new car with the cost cap, but also considering the time restrictions. I don’t want to say that it is impossible, but it is very difficult, and we have the feeling, and I hope we are right, that we have tonnes of room for improvement on the car. As long as we are still able to develop the car to get points and to get a better balance, a bit of stability, I think it makes sense to push in this direction [as opposed to a new car concept].” – Fred Vasseur pointed out.

Ahead of the budget cap era, teams had the possibility of working on as many upgrades as they liked on their car given the fact that costs for development were not limited and therefore varied between the rich teams and the smaller ones.

Yet new Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur pinpoints the budget cap as the main reason for not being able to take a completely new direction in terms of aero concept:

“With the stability of the regulations, we don’t have to change massively, the question is about the cost cap. If you want to do a carryover or not, and which parts you want to carry over between one season and another, but the big components, like the gearbox, is the question we have to manage with the cost cap. With the strategy of development, I think we have good updates, and we’ll see later on into the season. We want to do a continuous improvement of this car and have room for improvement.” – the French manager concluded.