Last Sunday, the fifth round of the 2023 Formula 1 World Championship took place at the Miami International Autodrome in Florida, USA. Ferrari left Florida as the third force on the field in terms of points scored, achieving a fifth and a seventh place behind Mercedes (Aston Martin, despite having won another podium with Alonso, pays the price for not being able to score points with Lance Stroll) replicating more or less what was seen in previous appearances.
A very disappointing start as compared to last year’s championship. The SF-23, while managing to challenge Red Bull in qualifying, still cannot express its full potential in the race. The car has very poor top speed qualities, despite having the most powerful engine on the grid, according to experts. But the biggest weakness is not being able to have a consistently competitive pace for the entire stint. In short, it fails to manage the tires adequately.
Ferrari is behind in understanding the car
These are the problems that Ferrari’s Performance Engineer, Jock Clear, summarized in a recent interview following the Miami Grand Prix: “We are taking a little while to find the correct set-up for the car. This is because we decided to introduce a new aerodynamic package in the winter. Steps forward were made in Australia, as well as in Azerbaijan.” – the English senior performance engineer continued.
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“The floor brought to Miami contributed once again to making the car work in a better operating window. However, the car has a behavior that is not yet linear, it is ‘peaky’ as the drivers have reported (which changes suddenly, essentially),” explained Jock Clear, as reported by the media after the Miami event – “We want them to be able to have greater confidence in the car, and that is our main goal at the moment.” – the experienced Ferrari engineer concluded.
Scuderia Ferrari’s development program will continue at the Imola circuit in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, where, according to the Dutch media, clear targeted upgrades will be introduced to improve the SF-23 car’s aerodynamic efficiency so that technicians can also have more freedom in managing ride height and consequently the car’s set-up.
