Why "bipolar" Ferrari SF-23 was fourth fastest car in race pace

Confirmation did not come. Under the chequered flag in Miami, Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari was more than half a minute behind, while Charles Leclerc’s was almost one minute behind. Between the two red cars and winner Max Verstappen, in addition to Sergio Perez, there were also Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and George Russell’s Mercedes, pushing Ferrari into the uncomfortable role of the fourth fastest car on track in the Miami weekend. A sort of Jeddah-bis, which suddenly took the Scuderia two months back.

The most alarming aspect, even more than the overall negative performance, is that the SF-23 is proving to be a bipolar car, perhaps the worst-case scenario for those called upon to improve the situation.

“We lack consistency – commented Charles Leclerc – the behavior changes from one corner to another, we go from strong oversteer to equally strong understeer. In addition, we suffer a lot from the wind, and during the race, I found myself with a car that was bouncing, something that had never happened during practice and qualifying.” – he explained.

It will not be a simple debriefing that awaits the Scuderia engineers today and in the following days. Even on the tire front, the feedback from the two cars was different. In the first stint of the race (18 laps), Carlos Sainz, who started on the mediums, had a gap from leader Sergio Perez of five seconds. After switching to the hards, Carlos, in the 39 laps that separated him from the chequered flag, saw the gap to the Mexican driver increase to over thirty seconds.

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For Charles Leclerc things went a bit better once they switched to the harder tires. “In each of the races we’ve competed in so far, we haven’t had many certainties,” added Charles Leclerc – “When we change tire compounds, we never know what will happen. It’s always an unknown. We have to discover on the track if the car will react well and if the tires will be able to find the right operating window. It’s not an easy scenario for a driver, it becomes difficult to gain confidence and also to find the right driving style, change tire sets and the car is different.” – the Monegasque pointed out at the end of the Miami Grand Prix.

“The car was difficult to drive for both drivers,” confirmed Frederic Vasseur, “and this emerges from examining the performances of Carlos and Charles. Sainz was competitive in the first part, then struggled a lot to have a constant pace after switching to the Hards, while Charles had difficulties with the Mediums in the first laps and was only able to find a good rhythm in the last part. The first problem to solve is therefore the lack of consistent performance of the SF-23, especially attributable to tire management, which prevents the drivers from finding the confidence they have in qualifying.” – the French manager explained.

Tire management is a problem that has been affecting Scuderia Ferrari for many years now. During this time, Maranello has seen technical directors, drivers, aerodynamicists, and team principals come and go, without ever arriving at an effective solution. There have been seasons (or half-seasons) in which the problem was less impactful, but the issue has always been topical.

Among the Scuderia’s rivals, some have long since decided to strengthen themselves with specialized technicians (mostly former Bridgestone and even some engineers with past experience at Michelin) and there is a doubt that specific know-how in this area is not a bad thing.

“The disorienting aspect,” added Charles Leclerc, “is that sometimes we’ve had the conviction that we’ve taken a step forward, then you find yourself on a hotter track and suddenly you’re outside the working window again.”

This impression is also confirmed by Carlos Sainz: “We can push one lap,” the Spaniard confirmed, “then the next lap you’re slower and you don’t know why. Then you slow down and try not to jeopardize the end of the race.” While waiting for the opportunity to bring the first substantial SF-23 upgrade kit to the track, doubts outweigh certainties for the Maranello team at this stage of the 2023 Formula 1 championship.