Charles Leclerc is back in the Maranello simulator to deliberate the SF-23 that will be deliberated for Baku. Ferrari is making the maximum effort to get out of a very difficult start to the season: the Scuderia is fourth in the Constructors’ championship and the red has not yet conquered a podium in three races held.
F1 will be back on track in two Sundays with the Azerbaijan GP after a month-long break which should have allowed the Maranello Racing Department to intervene on the red with a time trial program which will complete with the Spanish GP on the calendar on 4 June in Barcelona.
Meanwhile in Baku, a city track that combines a very fast stretch with the one ridden in the part of the track designed in the old city, you should only see the solutions that had already been decided upon at the start of development: the unloaded rear wing and the adjustment of the front flaps to ensure the necessary balance at high speeds.
Detail of the belly of the Ferrari SF-23: will it be more tapered at the bottom in Baku?
Photo by: George Piola
The Azerbaijani appointment will host the first of the six Sprint races of the 2026 season and will be held with the format that reduces free practice to just one session, the one on the Friday before qualifying. The timed session will serve to define the Sunday GP grid, while the Saturday race line-up should be decided by a new mini-qualifying session.
In such a tight format, bringing technical innovations can be a great risk, even if there are those who push for the red to have as many updates as possible. It remains to be seen whether in Maranello they will have the courage to dare to introduce an aerodynamic package that has arrived ready earlier than expected: more hollowed out bellies in the lower part to increase the opening under the radiator vents and the flow rate on the sidewalk.
Nothing to do with the redesigned sides that will be discovered at Montmelò, but a step forward that required partially revising the cooling system of 066/7: the radiant masses are the usual ones, but some ducts had to be moved and tubs.
Will the technical staff directed by Enrico Cardile have the courage to dare these updates in Baku or will they prefer to wait for an appointment where there will be the possibility of doing comparative tests with at least two free practice sessions?
Leclerc would have also tried this more advanced configuration on the simulator, which would have given positive numbers, but remembering the emphasis with which he expected the SF-23 before the tests on the track, it is better to drop a pitiful veil on the miraculous data and see if in GeS are ready to take risks with solutions that will have little, very little time to be evaluated.
It cannot be ruled out that two different Ferraris will be seen in free practice, if the idea is to anticipate the timing of updates, bearing in mind that the factory has worked very hard to shorten the birth of advanced solutions.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
All attention is focused on the next round on the track: the political defeat for the failure to review the result of the Australian GP is behind us. Carlos Sainz commented on his state of mind on social media…
“I am very disappointed because the FIA did not grant us the right to review. Two weeks later, I remain of the opinion that the penalty is disproportionate and that it would have been correct to reopen the case on the basis of the new evidence that we have presented. We must continue to work together so that some dynamics improve in the future”.
“The consistency of sanctions and the ways in which they are established or not have been much discussed topics for several seasons now and clarity is needed for the good of our sport. Anyway what happened in Australia is now a thing of the past and I’m 100% focused on the next race in Baku.”
Someone in Maranello claims that Ferrari wanted to demonstrate to the Spanish driver that the team defended him in front of everything and everyone, but a prestigious team like the Cavallino one should protect itself from certain embarrassments…
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