It’s red alert. In the true sense of the word. Ferrari has lost its way. Or if you prefer to use fashionable terminology, the Scuderia has lost the correlation between the simulation systems and the track. The SF-23 hides a potential that can be seen in the wind tunnel, but which appears only in flashes on the track.
Fred Vasseur defends the project that he inherited from Mattia Binotto, but already after Jeddah he sent a clear and strong message to the engineers: “Let’s not talk bullshit, let’s look for the truth”.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal of Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
He didn’t go around it with sophistry, getting straight to the point. The redhead comes out of the trip to the Red Sea with broken bones: she hoped to get back in line with the Red Bulls and, instead, she also ended up behind Aston Martin and Mercedes.
A bad sign, especially as regards the W14s: the Brackley single-seater has already been celebrated and a B version will arrive from Imola to correct the design flaws that have been identified. Being beaten by the Mercedes on the pass highlights just how serious Ferrari’s crisis is.
In Bahrain, the withdrawal of Charles Leclerc due to the tilted control unit had brought out the spectra of reliability. The Monegasque paid a 10-position penalty on the Jeddah grid, after a convincing second place in qualifying just 155 thousandths from pole position.
The Ferrari 066/7 engine
Photo by: Uncredited
The second race weekend went smoothly as far as breakages are concerned: the power unit did its job without problems. By the way: the control units that went haywire weren’t the engine ones, but the ones that drive the hybrid system. It is true that there were no problems, but it is equally true that two fresh engines were unbranded together with the second MGU-H.
It is said to close an engine equal to the previous one, but extreme for use on fast tracks, while the first will be good for stop-and-go tracks. We have reached the extremes of every single electronic and mechanical component when it would be enough for each piece to live a life of seven GPs without problems.
Ferrari SF-23, detail of the new side bulkhead to increase the out-wash effect
Photo by: George Piola
Jeddah frightened Vasseur because Ferrari was the team that brought the most technical innovations after the debut in Bahrain: new front wing, new underbody and re-proposition of the rear mono-pylon with heavier profiles. In short, a great effort to give the sense of a team that didn’t give up on Sakhir’s difficulties, but tried to react immediately.
The commitment is commendable and is not equal to the result, because the SF-23 that took to the track in Jeddah was not the same one that had been planned at home: in the tunnel and in the simulator, the redhead can afford to travel with minimal ground clearance which are not playable on the track.
The red doesn’t have a basic setup and, when the data don’t add up, you start looking for a solution by changing not only the height, but also the stiffness of the suspensions and the incidence of the wings, in a hubbub that doesn’t even make it clear if whether the modifications brought to Saudi Arabia really worked or not.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Ferrari
The drivers find themselves with a car that often changes behaviour, eating its tires even on a track that is not very selective from this point of view. If in the wind tunnel the red was designed to run low and then on the track it is not possible to maintain that set-up without damaging the splitter, it is clear that load is lost, as is clear that there will be less energy that will be exerted on the tires and therefore there may be greater wear. We need to understand why these things happen, otherwise it will be of little use to introduce new solutions.
The base-line is missing, the zero point on which to build evolution. And so we see a Ferrari that continues to experiment on the track in the hope of finding a match, but in the meantime the drivers are not given the opportunity to simulate a qualifying session, preferring to run on petrol to control tire wear.
This is not how you can hope to win races: Leclerc and Sainz have the right to seek the feeling on a very fast track, with walls close to the track and without escape routes. And it makes no sense to deprive Sainz of a run in Q3 to save a train of new softs for the race, if that set is then returned to Pirelli unused.
Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Charles Leclerc’s ability to perform a flying lap like a champion fuels the hope that the red will be good at least in Qualifying, but the feeling is that in that situation the Monegasque is putting something more than his own, giving the SF-23 something that has of its own.
Vasseur maintains that a car that goes fast in the flying lap and then loses itself in the race due to tire degradation is not the result of a wrong project: it is legitimate to think so if the technicians are able to give precise answers to the problems afflicting the red. otherwise it will be better to look to the future, changing the concept of the car, as Mercedes will do with the W14…
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