Ferrari must get off the swing: in Miami it sank back to fourth force, after having deluded itself in Baku that it could be Red Bull’s first (distanced) pursuer. The SF-23 is inconsistent in behavior not only between one race and another, but also in the same GP, with embarrassing performance variations depending on the fuel load and the tire compound.
Not only that, but the two reds had opposite reactions in the hands of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz: the Monegasque suffered with the medium tires in the first stint and “defended” himself with the hard ones, the exact opposite of what happened to the Madrid driver .
Decoding the Miami conundrum therefore becomes a rather difficult undertaking: a car that was not very suitable for the street circuit was deliberated, where you can still go around with an average speed above 210 km/h, with the obligation to attack the numerous curbs if you want to let out a time.
Frederic Vasseur is absorbed: is managing Ferrari more difficult than he thought?
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz / Motorsport Images
If Red Bull and Aston Martin were capable of copying the roughness of the track, Ferrari and Mercedes had to deal with the numerous congenital defects of their respective single-seaters. If the Star has decided to freeze the W14 waiting for the evolved car that James Allison will debut at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari, eventually finding a compromise that allowed the black arrow to stay ahead of the red, Fred Vasseur wanted in Florida a first step of the evolutionary package of the SF-23 that will be completed only in Barcelona.
Judging by the results, one might say that a leap into the void has been made. And Maranello’s critics in permanent active service have not missed an opportunity to underline how the Cavallino technicians are specialized in getting developments wrong, losing their way during construction.
The Ferrari SF-23 of Charles Leclerc, after the accident in Q3
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
This time things should be different: Ferrari is taking a different path, which will bring the SF-23 as close as possible to the aerodynamic concepts of Red Bull. Let’s add, just to be clear, that these are not developments that had been planned at the beginning of the season, but are real orientation corrections, in an attempt to extract from the red that potential that can be smelled, but which is (almost) never seen in track.
The new fund, the observers have fossilized on the new design of the sidewalk, neglecting, rather, the revolutionized design of the Venturi channels: the internal flows are directed in a different way to increase the load that is generated under the single-seater, so it appears too it is clear that the aerodynamic platform on which an adequate setup must be built has been changed.
Ferrari SF-23, detail of the new bottom seen in Miami
Photo by: George Piola
In the American race we understood that the operating window of the car, which seemed critical in the hands of both drivers, did not widen. But in the debriefing in Maranello, which was attended by both drivers, a shared consideration emerged: the flop in Miami, even more than a technical debacle, would have been due to a sequence of wrong choices.
And the very interesting aspect that would have emerged is the sharing of responsibilities and not the passing of the buck, which is widely practiced in the Gestione Sportiva. The SF-23 deliberated for the new asphalt in Miami was certainly not the best, but even the choices made on the track weren’t illuminating, to the point that the engineers and the drivers themselves admitted that they understood little, taking directions in setting point that made the red difficult to drive, with sudden changes in behavior.
Ferrari SF-23, detail of the new bottom with the redesigned Venturi channels
Photo by: Jon Noble
The assumption of responsibility is a very positive sign, to direct energies in the right direction in this delicate phase of the season: in Imola, in addition to the new bottom, the awaited revised rear suspension will make its debut, which will allow the adoption of a mechanical set-up more suited to the heights from the ground that are used to produce downforce.
The bellies with the lower flaring, without reaching the undercut of the RB19, will serve to improve the efficiency of the bottom by bringing more flow towards the diffuser. And to make the beam wing more effective, it is not excluded that the extraction of hot air be changed in the upper tank of the sides. The radiator cores have remained in the same position, but many of the ducts have been moved to narrow the bodywork to the foot.
Ferrari is playing its future in the next three races: in Barcelona it will be understood whether it can still aspire to the role of second force or whether it will be better to close the shop and puppets to think only of the 2024 project.
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