Charles Leclerc concluded the preparation tests for the 2023 world championship with the best session time. A time trial obtained with a compound that won’t be used next week (the C4), but on the fast lap it still looks like a Ferrari capable of having its say, as indeed it was last year.
And speaking of comparisons with 2022, Leclerc shared his first sensations, obviously backed by the technical data. Last season, one of the weapons that allowed Max Verstappen to get the upper hand in ‘close combat’ was the excellent top speed of the RB18, a single-seater with reduced drag and a very efficient DRS system.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
On this front, Ferrari seems to have recovered ground, and the confirmation has come from Leclerc. “On the straights we go better – Charles confirmed – but I don’t want to go into too much detail. We have a more efficient car, with less drag, so in terms of top speed I think it should be better. But there are also other characteristics to consider, and at the moment we have not yet found the best set-up for these… new characteristics”.
Leclerc completed a total of 199 laps of the Sakhir circuit, but the optimal balance of the car has not yet been found…
“We’ve worked a lot over the course of these three days – Charles confirmed – but we haven’t hit the best balance yet, so I hope there’s still some margin, the one that separates us from having a good set-up”.
The five days available before returning to the track for the first race weekend of the season will be precious for continuing the fine-tuning work on the simulator…
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