Italian media believes "Baku track characteristics hiding Ferrari SF-23 main issues"

After an extraordinary start to the 2023 Formula One season, during the Azerbaijan GP qualifying session, Red Bull suffered their first real setback of the 2023 championship. In fact, during the Azerbaijan qualifying, the Anglo-Austrian team failed to secure pole position and, on the contrary, was beaten by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari thanks to an amazing lap from the Monegasque.

A “defeat” that effectively interrupts the impressive trend that Christian Horner’s team had shown in the first three races, where (in addition to three wins out of three races), they had secured three consecutive pole positions.

Today’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport analyzed this setback in-depth, starting with an evaluation of the performance of the Ferrari SF-23. Despite the good work done by the technicians at Maranello during the break, this project is helped by the conditions and layout of the fast Baku track, where aerodynamic efficiency counts.

“This track does not highlight the congenital issues of this project, but instead enhances its qualities, […] a project focused on maximum smoothness on the straight, meaning producing little drag.”

The pole position of the Maranello team, favored by the hard and thorough work carried out in Maranello during this period of searching for optimal aerodynamic and mechanical configurations (suspension, ground clearance, etc.), was also influenced positively by the dynamic and aerodynamic adjustments made.

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The analysis of the Italian newspaper then focused on an evaluation of the aspects that, unlike what has happened so far this season, did not allow Red Bull to make the difference. Specifically, the RB19 lacked performance when the DRS was open, an area where it usually makes the difference. A difference that, in Baku, was reduced because the efficiency of the mobile wing decreases with the reduction of the aerodynamic load of the wings.

“The DRS, due to the aerodynamically light configuration adopted by everyone, loses much of its effectiveness and, specifically for the RB19, does not dramatically stall the diffuser.”

In addition to the DRS, the updates brought to the track by Adrian Newey, aimed at maximizing aerodynamic efficiency, did not work either: new sidepods with a different section, lower but wider than the previous specification: “The Milton Keynes team introduced a clear modification to the intake of the sidepods. Their vertical section has been reduced in favor of an increase in the channel between the sidepods and the floor, improving the smoothness of the RB19.”

The sidepods, coupled with a new and more efficient mapping of the Honda power unit, were not enough for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to defeat the Monegasque driver: “This intervention, along with the revised mode of use of the Honda engine, […] was not enough to stay ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.”

Are the developments wrong or still not working at their best due to the little time available in FP1 to refine them? Only time will tell.