The 675 project often falls short. A Ferrari SF-23 that showed all its limitations in Texas, for instance, where the word “compromise” must necessarily be part of the weekend. We’ll never know how it would have gone with a setup in line with other competitors. In all likelihood, it wouldn’t have secured pole position in qualifying, but in the race, perhaps, tire consumption wouldn’t have dominated with a high fuel load.
Of course, these are mere assumptions. Agreed. However, the single hour available to test the car and validate the setup certainly didn’t help in that regard. What’s more, the increasingly imaginative strategies often do more harm than good. The “random” approach, to put it more bluntly, almost always exacerbates the situation. And it matters little if Xavi Marcos compliments Charles on the excellent tire management at the end of the race: when the result of a race is “crap,” as the Monegasque rightly pointed out on the radio, self-congratulation serves very little purpose. Especially if you start from pole position.
On the other hand, Carlos Sainz, at least in the race, managed to maximize the result. A couple of stints, specifically second and third, where the Spaniard found a good rhythm, turning a fourth-place finish into third thanks to Mercedes. Ferrari, in line with an overly aggressive setup on the ground clearances, suffered just like Red Bull from having an extreme ride height that effectively planed the wooden plank on the underside of the car. There’s not much else to say. Perhaps the only thing worth doing is to quickly turn the page.
The back-to-back races are perfect in this case. We’re talking about the opportunity to promptly leave behind a weekend that went wrong in its execution. Fortunately, the F1 Sprint format is not in play, and the chance to calmly study the simulated setup will be available. The hope is to perform well or at least better than what was seen in Austin, with a clear awareness: once again, the layout won’t favor the red team for several technical reasons. Let’s explore them.
Mexico GP 2023/Ferrari SF-23: optimizing S3 and caring for SF-23 front end
The nineteenth round of F1 stops in North America. The circuit located in Mexico City, named after the Rodriguez brothers, presents various challenges. Firstly, the track is situated at an altitude of over 2000 meters, which results in significantly thinner air. This leads to significantly lower air resistance, allowing for high vertical load aerodynamic configurations.
In general, the track can be divided into three main sections. After a very long main straight, there is a first section consisting of several medium-speed corners. Then comes a section with fast, wide-radius corners before arriving at the part including the stadium, where average speeds drop considerably, and rear grip to harness traction becomes essential.
Considering the altitude, the aerodynamic choice will lean toward high-downforce settings, without much consideration for efficiency, which is a secondary concern in the Mexican territory. For this reason, Mercedes and especially McLaren are expected to be very competitive, closing the gap related to drag resistance on the RB19. Nevertheless, we expect the RB19 to enjoy a clear advantage in terms of top-speed on the straights. A crucial aerodynamic aspect will be good balance in the high-speed sections.
Once again, we emphasize that Ferrari struggles to make the high-downforce package work because the front end tends to lose grip when the rear is loaded. Even in Austin, the Prancing Horse’s engineers chose to run with a lower load on the rear wings, trying to recover lost downforce through the floor-diffuser group. This measure required using very low ground clearances, which caused wear outside the limits of the skid block.
In high-speed corners, a significant balanced vertical load is needed to provide plenty of grip on the front axle. Last year, it was the RB18 that suffered, but this year, the SF-23 often exhibits understeer behavior. Once again, the Maranello team cannot escape the mechanical compromise regarding the suspension. In terms of suspension, a lot of grip is needed to handle T1 and T3 effectively, and at the same time, a stable aerodynamic platform is required for the middle part.
The tarmac doesn’t offer much natural grip, which means Ferrari will need to preserve the front end as much as possible, even if it sacrifices agility in direction changes. Considering the SF-23’s “endemic” characteristics, it will need to extract more potential from the third sector than last year, which, on paper, should be more suited to the Italian car. However, the T3 is not easily interpretable with the setup, which leaves it as a question mark.
The lack of bumps on the track will not limit the ride height. The cars can run close to the reference plane (the track surface) and take full advantage of the ground effect generated by the underfloor. Without a doubt, the second sector will be a strong point for Red Bull, as well as for McLaren, due to the presence of long, wide-radius corners in succession. Meanwhile, Mercedes aims to remain competitive, taking advantage of the current form of the W14.
In terms of tires, the negative effect on the compounds will not be very high, and lateral forces will be minimal. Longitudinal forces for traction will be slightly higher. The low grip of the tarmac, due to its reduced roughness, leaves a question mark about how the C3, C4, and C5 compounds, one step softer than in 2022, will perform.
Source: Alessandro Arcari and Niccoló Arnerich for FUnoanalisitecnica
