How Ferrari wants to avoid replicating Mercedes fatal mistake. Ferrari studies Mercedes to avoid the same pitfalls.

Sometimes the effects of certain events are much larger than those they had when they occurred. Mercedes knows this well, having based its technical-sporting campaign on a rather conspicuous perceptual error made in 2022, which negatively influenced the 2023 championship. At Ferrari, where there are attentive observers of the surrounding environment, they intend to avoid falling into the same detrimental dynamics.

What are we alluding to? Obviously, the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2022, where the W13 checkmated Red Bull with an unexpected one-two that misled the technical department into believing that the issues at the beginning of the year had been definitively overcome. This idea led them to think that the zero sidepod concept was still capable of being effective and, above all, capable of countering Red Bull’s philosophy.

“Confirming the zero sidepod concept in 2023 was a big mistake, but I defend this choice because, in the end, we won in Brazil. Every team would have taken that weekend as a basis for the new season. More than half of the team believed that the situation was improving.” With these words, Toto Wolff admitted the flop that effectively increased the team’s lag behind a dominant Red Bull.

Ferrari studies Mercedes to avoid the same pitfalls

Ferrari’s triumph in Singapore in 2023 is to 2022 what George Russell’s victory in São Paulo, Brazil, is to the 2022 championship. Is the proportion accurate? No, not by a long shot! In Maranello, they know very well that that single outing has no technical value and cannot be the pillar on which to build other plans for a structure that must be solid and robust.

At the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Red Bull had a bad day, just as it happened in Brazil in 2022. A series of circumstances led the engineers astray, and they did not define the right setup. Perez and Verstappen could only navigate through difficulties and watch Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes compete for victory in a tightly contested race that Carlos Sainz, with sagacity and tactical skill, brought home, breaking the winning streak of the Milton Keynes-based team that had lasted for ages.

A satisfaction, a whim, a factor that has not shifted Enrico Cardile and his team’s choices. That is to say, abandoning the concept in use to move towards other technical designs, which are very likely the ones used by the Anglo-Austrians.

In fact, Ferrari decided early on to explore other paths, and for this reason, they did not produce further improvements at a certain point in the season for a car that was born poorly and showed little room for improvement. Carlos Sainz, the breaker of victory ribbons, spoke to the Spanish media about the temptation to cling to events in Singapore, thinking that they could be the sling that launches project 676 into hyperspace.

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“Mercedes, which won in Brazil, saw that car in a good light. They thought they could go into 2023 developing it since they weren’t that far off. But 2023 showed that it wasn’t the right choice, and they had to reset the path a bit.” A perfect summary of the concept of interpretative clarity. If this way of thinking has been assimilated by the technicians led by Enrico Cardile, then the 2024 season for the Prancing Horse can be tuned with a functioning diapason.

Carlos Sainz cited McLaren as a tangible example to follow. Starting with a weak car, Woking, by adopting the right corrections, gave meaning not only to the season but especially to a technical project that could continue its path towards the top in 2024. “When you hit the right key,” explained the Madrid-born driver, “you can make rapid progress. I hope it will be the same next year.”

The Ferrari of next year will be a breakaway from the recent past. Frédéric Vasseur reported in the pre-Christmas press conference that 95% of the components would undergo changes compared to the SF-23. A revolution in a glass because it is something quite normal from one year to the next. The difference will not be the quantity of redesigned parts but their integrated functionality.

Carlos Sainz does not let himself be carried away by optimism but, in a pragmatic way, believes that the Red can have the right tools to get back into the game that matters: “As a team, we should be able to recover. Being able doesn’t mean we will do it; it’s a really big step to take next year. It’s a difficult goal, not only for Ferrari but also for Aston Martin, McLaren, and Mercedes. It’s challenging for any team that wants to take the championship away from Red Bull, especially after the season they had.”

Realism but also a hint of hope: “If there is anyone capable of doing it,” Carlos Sainz concluded, “that someone is Ferrari. Especially after the way we finished the season and the progress we showed.” To attempt it, it will be necessary not to make a single mistake. For this reason, the victory in Singapore was not smoke in the eyes of the men in Maranello, who instead have a very clear vision of what to do.

Source: Diego Catalano for FUnoanalisitecnica