The track is always the most important factor in terms of evaluations, even if the winter pre-season testing session should never be considered a clear indication of what’s about to come once the Formula 1 championships begins. What is certain is that the 2023 cars will be much faster than the previous ones (as anticipated), despite the aerodynamic limitations introduced by the Federation to cancel aerodynamic porpoising. Most of the contribution comes from the new Pirelli tyres, which are more than one second faster depending on how much a certain team manages to exploit them. At the same time, an excellent job has been done by the various teams also on the engine side, despite the power unit development freeze, and on the aerodynamic side, with greater gains than the estimated half-second lost due to regulation changes.
The Ferrari SF-23 is limited at the front
The SF-23 is a very different car from the previous one. The main innovations reside at the front, with completely revised mechanics, and in the non-visible part of the underbody, in addition to the more evident modifications in the front wing and side pods. Innovations that have radically changed the characteristics of the Italian car, now a missile on a straight line but which struggles more than the F1-75 in corners, with more efficiency but with a balance that, especially in slow and medium corners, is still missing.
The new car designed in Maranello does not have its weak point in the rear, as it might initially seem, but the problem is to be found at the front. Leaving aside the first day used to collect data on the track, to be compared with those coming from the tools used back at the factory, the second and last day were used to optimize and extract the potential of the SF-23. Despite working a lot in terms of setup, it turned out that the new Italian car suffered from understeer on entry and in the middle of the corner, which turned into oversteer on exit. The problem was not solved with the current front wing, given that “even at maximum clicks, we didn’t get rid of the understeer, especially during the hottest hours of the day” a technician from the Italian team said, as confirmed by F1 expert Piergiuseppe Donadoni for formu1a.uno.
The front wing or new mechanics are not performing as expected, given that these problems were unexpected for the Italian team. According to formu1a.uno, both macro elements of the car are to blame. To be able to manage a totally new mechanics, that still needs to be fully understood by Ferrari, unlike the situation at Red Bull, there is however a first evolution of the wing in the works that Ferrari is trying to anticipate with respect to the initial plans to guarantee more set-up options and therefore trying to get a more solid front-end. Also because it is true that the rear wing used in the tests was rather unloaded, and that the one which will be used during the race weekend will be more loaded, but Ferrari will need a front capable of supporting that greater rear load in order not to further unbalance the SF-23 at the rear. Here the heights from the ground will also come into play in an important way, i.e. return to lowering the t-tray area, fundamental above all in the medium and slow corners to generate that missing load in the front part of the SF-23.
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The SF-23 car seen during the pre-season testing session was absolutely not the Ferrari challenger that Charles Leclerc would have liked to drive in the first three days of the season. His dissatisfaction and concern is clear and genuine. The Monegasque expressed it directly in the post-test session briefings with his engineers. A car with a lot of understeer doesn’t enhance the Monegasque’s driving style, just as it didn’t help Max Verstappen a year ago.
Charles prefers staying in the corner for longer, unlike Carlos, who makes more V-shaped trajectories. However, the SF-23 doesn’t suit Charles’ style, as the understeer and sliding cause the tyres to die quickly. Especially the rear, very stressed and sensitive in the hottest hours of Bahrain, with a race pace that gets worse and more worrying as the laps go by. “The SF-23 has to be driven differently. I have tried different driving styles and I am finding the right way but there is still work to be done.” clearly admitted Charles Leclerc on the third day of testing.
Carlos Sainz has an almost opposite opinion, rather satisfied with how the three days of testing went. On the other hand, the new Italian car is currently more tailored to the driving style of the Spaniard. As for the Monegasque, he relies on the unexpressed potential of both his SF-23 and himself, and the Maranello team is working on this at the factory to prepare for the first race. “I think there is room for improvement for the SF-23 once the ideal set-up has been found, which we have not yet found in these three days”. On the one hand the goal is to find the ‘ideal’ set-up, to eliminate at least part of the understeer he had, on the other hand the target is to improve his driving style, two factors that could allow the Monegasque to take an important step forward in the first weekend of the 2023 Formula One season. The fact remains that Charles Leclerc would have hoped of a better start.
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