When Ferrari takes to the track, media attention converges. After all, it is only natural when talking about the most prestigious team in the pinnacle of motorsport and also the most successful. However, the triumphs have long been lost in the mists of time. The last one dates back to the 2008 racing campaign when Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa accumulated enough points to gift the Constructors’ Championship to the Prancing Horse.
It was November 2nd, and since that day, the Maranello team has been filled with others’ victories. Fourteen championships where the Maranello-based team came close to the title on only two occasions, in 2010 and 2012. They fought for half a season or a bit more in 2017 and 2018, and last year, in 2022, hope was lost in the summer. We are talking about 33 stage wins out of 284 Grand Prix races, which amounts to a percentage of 10.56%. A bit too little when a Prancing Horse adorns your car’s bodywork.
Returning to the present, we have dissected in every detail the performance of the SF-23 in relation to its initial characteristics, project 675. Subsequently, starting from the race in Catalonia, the analyses of the updated car have not been lacking. Then came Canada, where hope made an appearance. While awaiting further confirmations that go beyond the encouraging performance displayed in Montreal, today we examine, through additional data, several behavioral aspects of the SF-23 car.
Ferrari: 6 tenths lost in performance
By examining the fastest laps in the race of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, we notice certain aspects. In general, the degradation of the Ferrari has decreased. For this reason, the red cars were able to adopt a “reverse strategy” by making one less pit stop. By doing so, the SF-23 completed one of the longest stints on the yellow-banded Pirelli tires, which have a performance similar to the Soft compound.
Before observing the telemetry, we must first make an important consideration for the sake of reasoning. The two timing comparisons under scrutiny occur at the forty-seventh lap, in which both drivers set their fastest laps.
Based on this idea, we underline how the Monegasque driver stopped the clock in his fastest attempt using a brand-new set of Hard tires. Meanwhile, the seven-time world champion from Mercedes was circulating with a used set of Medium tires that he would later change a few laps ahead.
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Studying the overall graph, let’s first try to understand where the red car loses ground during the evolution of the lap. At the first braking point, Turn 16, initially, it gains some advantage, but already from the next change of direction, it starts to lose. Only in Turn 2, the gap hovers around a tenth of a second. This delta remains stable during the straight leading to the second chicane, which is taken at a higher speed.
Lewis Hamilton produces superior traction towards Turn 5, a corner that is taken flat out. At the next chicane, Charles pays another price, losing an additional 50 milliseconds, bringing the gap to four tenths at the halfway point of the track. The other significant part of the gap accumulates during the change of direction between Turns 8 and 9, where the SF-23 is slower by a notable three tenths compared to the W14.
In general, we can assert that in braking/entry, the red car manages to gain something, but this advantage disappears during the exit phase. Therefore, from the apex onward, the Ferrari tends to lose most of the valuable time. On the following straight, after Turn 10, the two cars approach the section differently, and the Monegasque driver recovers approximately two tenths in pure speed.
However, at the last chicane, where the famous and feared “Wall of Champions” stands, Lewis widens the gap again by one and a half tenths. Overall, the performance delta between the two cars amounts to over half a second.
Ferrari: Characteristics of the SF-23
As mentioned, tire management in Ferrari seems to have improved, with the rear of the car no longer going into trouble as quickly. However, it is also important to note that in Montreal, the major stress on the tires is longitudinal, while the lateral forces remain relatively low. Furthermore, it is not a track where we find many pure traction zones.
The aspect that undoubtedly needs to be emphasized concerns the pure performance potential of the Italian car, which is inferior to Mercedes, at least in Canada, during the race. This factor had already been highlighted in Bahrain, where the car was clearly limited by tire management, and its race performance was lacking.
Now let’s delve into specifics and try to understand which types of corners still pose challenges for the SF-23 compared to Mercedes, currently the more competitive car on Sundays. In the previous table, we distinguished between low-speed corner (<100km/h) and medium-speed corners(100<v<150km/h). High-speed corners, not present in Montreal, are missing, as explained by F1 experts Alessandro Arcari and Niccoló Arnerich for FUnoanalisitecnica.
We notice that in turns below 100km/h, Charles Leclerc loses 5.32% in percentage terms, while in medium-speed corners, the accumulated gap is smaller, at 3.5%. In terms of speed, we see that the SF-23 has a baseline deficit of 3.7km/h in slower corners and 4.4km/h in medium-speed corners. The story changes in the straights, where the only car to gain is the one conceived in Maranello. As speeds increase, the gain increases by half a percentage point, specifically when exceeding 300km/h.
However, by examining this second table that provides raw data, we notice that the first chicane partially skews the results. In lower-speed corners, the red car tends to gain against the W14, which therefore shows a lower value of mechanical grip, as confirmed by Lewis Hamilton.
In fact, the Black King himself has highlighted low-speed corners as the next area of development to evaluate in the coming weeks. In the chicane of Turns 6-7, the SF-23 gains about 3km/h at the apex. Turn 10 was not tackled optimally by Charles, who focused more on the exit.
In conclusion, a couple of reflections to summarize the concepts. The gap to Mercedes in the race is reducing, that is true. However, we must reiterate two factors. The first concerns a certain endemic lack of downforce that, in turn, negatively affects the performance of the red car in timing comparisons.
The second relates to the Canadian track, which unfortunately, due to its particular layout, cannot be considered a suitable and definitive testing ground. As mentioned, the absence of long-radius and high-load corners that significantly challenge the management of surface temperatures and tire carcass is missing.
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