The Budapest round extinguished all ambition, now we need more courageous ideas to close the gap with Red Bull, but also new technicians, less uncertainty in race strategies and full confidence in Vasseur
– Milan
Where to start from? They seem to wonder too Charles Leclerc And Carlos Sainzwho struggled to find the words to explain yet another disappointing performance from the team on Sunday Ferrari. In Hungary, on a twisty track which must have been quite favorable to the reds, the result was similar to the depressing one at Silverstone. The Cavallino continues its ups and downs in the championship. At first he was behind allAston Martinthen was overtaken by Mercedes, for some races he also finds himself chasing the McLarens, reborn thanks to the care of Andrea Stella (a former Ferrari driver). There Red Bull Of Max Verstappen not even talking about it: it is light years away. Given the situation, with Sainz and Leclerc relegated to sixth and seventh place in the world championship standings, it can be said that the 2023 World Championship for the Maranello team is over in the middle of the season and that it is better to think already of 2024.
the car
—
First you need to improve the car. There SF-23, as Sainz said, revealed congenital deficiencies that engineers fail to correct, despite the development work conducted at a rapid pace. The team principal Frederic Vasseur he was confident that the technicians had found a way to improve the car, but the positive signs stopped at the Canadian and Austrian races, then Ferrari fell back into mediocrity. It is a disturbing figure, which must also worry us in view of next year. Ferrari’s lack of growth, compared to a 2022 that had recorded 4 victories, coincided with the acceleration of the competitors. The current red lacks cornering grip (downforce) and is not balanced (suspension). This has repercussions on tire performance, with excessive degradation, and takes away the drivers’ confidence in driving. For 2024, the staff led by Enrico Cardile, current head of the chassis area and “in pectore” technical director, must come up with new and more courageous ideas, because the gap to be filled compared to Red Bull has become an abyss.
the engineers
—
The strengthening campaign led by Vasseur should bring some valuable engineers to Maranello, including the Frenchman Loic Serra, former head of Mercedes performance development, but the “senior” figures must observe a long period of inactivity when they transfer to another team, so the benefits of the operation will only be seen from 2025 onwards. In the meantime, there is room for improvement in many respects. For example by making better use of the latest generation simulator that Ferrari has been counting on since the end of 2021. It has happened that the red single-seaters have arrived on the track with an ineffective set-up or that there have been errors in evaluating the behavior of the tyres, as in Great Britain. Problems related to predictions and calculation models. In addition, work procedures and methods need to be made more efficient, optimizing organization: a key point on which Andrea Stella at McLaren worked, with the result that the development of the car was faster and more decisive, thanks to the fact that he had freed up the creative talent of the technicians.
the strategy
—
Vasseur’s arrival saw a small revolution at the Ferrari pit wall, with Inaki Rueda replaced by the young Ravin Jain, the new chief strategist. The chain of command has also been revised. The responsiveness in decisions has improved, but the strategic errors still remain many. The uncertainty in certain moments is embarrassing and the fact that the pilots have to intervene frequently in tactical choices is proof of this weakness. Several times it happened to hear Sainz objecting to the requests that arrived via radio from the team and just as often Leclerc was asked by his track engineer Xavi Marcos for an opinion on what to do. This does not happen at Red Bull, despite the fact that there is such a Verstappen in the car.
pilots and managers
—
The last chapter concerns the role of Vasseur and that of the pilots. The Frenchman rightly tiptoed into Maranello, introducing gradual changes, but to win he will have to profoundly affect the mechanics of the team, as Jean Todt was able to do in his years with the Cavallino. President John Elkann and the CEO Will Benedetto Vigna give him full powers to succeed? As for Leclerc and Sainz, they will have to be able to keep morale and motivation high, despite the risk of being faced with a still uphill 2024, with the contract expiring for both. For the “Charlos” it will be a great exam.
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
#Ferrari #season #forget #heres #start