At the end of the official winter pre-season testing session, which took place last week at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, some doubts emerged regarding the performance of the Ferrari SF-23 car, at least taking into consideration the lap times from the three days of testing and most importantly the tyre degradation. the Maranello F1 car was affected by an excessively high tyre degradation, specially on the C3 compound.
The comparison is with the dominant (or so it seems) Red Bull RB19 of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The optimism shown by the new team principal Frederic Vasseur seemed unjustified for many fans in the light of what was seen during the pre-season testing session at the Bahrain International Circuit. But it is equally true that the performance parameters with which the rivals of the Italian side, especially Red Bull, have carried out their test program are not known.
On the other hand, the rumours reported today by the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport relating to the program carried out by Ferrari could shed a ray of light capable of clarifying/justifying the confidence expressed by team principal of the Scuderia following the testing session in Sakhir.
First of all, it would emerge that a comparison with the program carried out by the team last year would be impractical, as it was done radically different. In the first instance for the huge amount of data that was collected in this session, especially on the first day of evaluating the aerodynamic configuration, compared to last year2. The analyzes of the set-ups and of the individual components were then followed by a busy program carried out by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz also for the next two days. Of particular interest is the figure relating to the fuel loads adopted in each stint by Scuderia Ferrari. In fact, it seems that all the series of outings, even the short ones, were carried out with a constant load of petrol, with top-ups of 35/40 kg. At no time would have the SF-23 car dropped below 20 kg at the end of the scheduled laps.
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MASKED PERFORMANCE – This, in fact, could indicate that the performance shown in the single fast laps has been largely masked, also in terms of how the power unit was used. No less relevant is the data on the fuel used for the race simulation: it seems that it was the quantity necessary to complete the full distance of a Bahrain Grand Prix. If the information reported by Gazzetta dello Sport were confirmed, it would have imposed significant stress on the Pirelli tyres, which are particularly put to the test on a track like Sakhir. Apart from a comparison with Red Bull, the data in itself would not have too much relevance, but considering that Red Bull’s individual stints have always been short, a direct comparison in terms of tire degradation could be less penalizing for the SF-23 car than it seemed at the end of the winter pre-season testing session, according to the Italian newspaper.
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