SF-23 still remains a mysterious object. In the first third of the season it was several times close to being labeled as a single-seater to forget, a blacklisted red. Then here’s a blaze, enough to rekindle the hopes of those who believe that something good could also come from this project.
On Friday in Montreal (following the bad race in Barcelona) a sign of life arrived, something that can give hope. There is no mention of triumphant goals, because Red Bull which yesterday (however competitive) did not satisfy Verstappen. “At the moment we’re struggling a bit on the curbs – explained Max – I can’t say that we’re going badly, but we absolutely have to put some things in order”.
Ferrari, somewhat surprisingly, confirmed progress on two fronts: top speed and constant performance in race simulations. In the first case Sainz and Leclerc obtained even better results than the two Red Bulls, while in the long runs they lapped at a fast and constant pace.
In the absence of fast corners, which so far have not been the best hunting ground for the SF-23, a single-seater has emerged capable of making good use of the curbs, i.e. what Montreal needs to go fast, and this immediately gave confidence to the pilots.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Francois Tremblay
“I had a really good feeling – confirmed Leclerc – and on this track it’s a positive aspect. We haven’t brought any news after Spain, we are learning more about this package, we are optimizing it.”
After the difficult weekend at the Catalunya circuit, Ferrari remained on the Spanish track for two days of Pirelli testing, an opportunity also exploited to better understand the single-seater without the stressful rhythms of the race weekend. In Montreal, the direction taken seems to be the right one, but today’s qualifying will most likely (100% according to the weather forecast) be held in the rain.
“I think we’ll have to face difficult conditions – confirmed Leclerc – but the results that emerged in the dry are still positive, and beyond what happens in qualifying, it will be interesting to see what we can do on Sunday”.
![Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari](https://cdn-7.motorsport.com/images/mgl/6VRqWrn6/s1000/carlos-sainz-scuderia-ferrari-1.jpg)
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Sainz also confirmed the steps forward, but in Carlos’s case a problem arose which greatly affected his Friday.
“I still don’t feel 100% comfortable with the car due to problems under braking – he confirmed – we’ve started to understand the reasons and we’ll try to make some changes in view of FP3 and qualifying. On this track, having no feeling under braking is certainly not a small problem, but I’m confident it will get better.”
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