[Press review] – First the disappointment for an unexpectedly poor start to the 2023 Formula 1 championship, now the reflection. These are difficult days at Scuderia Ferrari after the events which took place at the Jeddah Corniche circuit, a track that in theory should have helped the Maranello team at least partially mask the problems that arose in the inaugural Grand Prix of the 2023 Formula One season, in Bahrain.
Unfortunately, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix provided a clear – and rather negative – response to the ambitions of the Prancing Horse for this season. The SF-23 doesn’t seem at all equal to the car that preceded it and that last year, at least for the first half of the championship, was many times the best car on the track. This year, however, Ferrari is not only looking through binoculars at Red Bull, far ahead of everybody at the top of the group, but has also been overtaken by Aston Martin – last year in seventh place – and by Mercedes, which has candidly admitted that its current project is completely wrong. Now the time for truth and sincerity has also come in Maranello. The team needs to look at things how they really are and understand where to intervene in the hope that it is not already too late, as Alessandra Retico underlines in her article for the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.
Looking for solutions
“Ferrari with an open heart. […]. The fame of being a direct man precedes Fred Vasseur […]: on a friendly circuit like the Jeddah Corniche circuit, the Scuderia was the fourth fastest car on the grid. Behind the Mercedes, which was described as ‘a wrong project’. Very far from the stellar Red Bulls again involved in a lonely one-two battle against each other […]. But the Maranello team also limps against an Aston Martin who can no longer be considered as a surprise:
“What am I going to tell the engineers? To not bullshit ourselves. The most important thing in this kind of situation is to know where we are going well and what we are doing wrong. But we cannot bullshit ourselves.” – Fred Vasseur said after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
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!
“Time already up, illusions are over.” – La Repubblica continued – “We need to plunge the scalpel into the red team to flush out the evil, estimate the damage, repair it if possible. But what is the wound that afflicts it? And above all, can it be cured? […] . The SF-23 becomes unwatchable when it is fitted with hard tyres, the racing ones. […]. It is not the fault of the engine – both cars were fitted with new power units as a precaution. Even if it is not a good sign […].[…]. Reliability, one of the weak points of 2022, reappears like a nightmare. But it’s not the only one. […]. Fred Vasseur inherited the car and the group from the management of Mattia Binotto. In the handover, there was a time of “suspension”, of operational break. Is that where something went wrong? Or is the promising data on the simulator in conflict with the reality of the track, in short, is there no correlation? […] It was enough to improve the F1-75, which was designed very well. Instead the SF-23 that seemed to have to fight for the titles, appears almost an involution. Or not improved enough compared to opponents. […]. Ferrari is looking for itself. The team has updates planned, but everyone else too. Will they be enough? The second place of 2022, at the moment, is very far away. Beyond the shadow line” – La Repubblica concluded.
Leave a Reply