2023 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[FDD]

Fact is, LEC got on pole thanks to S2 and a very good S1. Both of those sectors are the slower stuff where traction means a lot, this was NOT the case in Bahrain. There's reason to really believe Ferrari found something to improve the car over the break via improvements in setup because their S3 is equally strong as RBR.

Will it be enough for the race? Before seeing telemetry or any race sim I highly doubt it, but that should put them clear 2nd best car.

EDIT: SAI on the other hand is pretty inexcusable right now and given LEC's rumors of looking for some leverage for new contract negotiation I wouldn't risk losing a guy that is so much faster in quali/race on average.

I think this can be explained quite well by the development history of the SF-23, at least if the rumors I have heard are true, and it would make sense. Binotto and Sanchez wanted the SF-23 to continue in the same direction as the F1-75. However, which is said to have been one of the reasons for Binotto's falling out with Vigna and also for Sanchez's decision to leave, Vigna must have interfered (a very normal practice at Ferrari since 2007 and before 1996) in the development and demanded lower drag. A Ferrari was not likely to be outrun by a Red Bull on the straights. This messed up a lot of the SF-23 and downforce was sacrificed in favor of drag, hence Vigna's "from the fastest Ferrari" comment at the presentation. I think there was a turnaround (and Vigna made it happen based on the results) and they went after downforce, as Sanchez and Binotto actually wanted, which brought the SF-23 and its concept back into balance. The fact that they went back to Rory Byrne six weeks ago and are listening to him again certainly helps. So everything would fit together. But first we'll have to wait and see.

Nice info, thank you

[FDD]

So the big difference in speed at end of straight is due to the DRS, not the juice running out, so again here RBR has pretty incredible DRS, or are running with more wing... whatever it is the speed is identical until DRS is open, and then RBR opens up a gap.

2022 LEC v VER:
https://i.imgur.com/WKFIkuB.jpeg

* Interesting that T15 was a great corner for Ferrari also last year.
* SF-23 really made good improvements in straight line speed compared to 2022 where straight line speed is meant as the whole acceleration curve vs just top end as that's actually not so different here.

Genuine improvement, here's LEC v LEC 2022/23 (green 2023):

https://i.imgur.com/b31ryMo.jpeg

* A little faster in the corners
* A lot faster in every straight

Impeccable work, thank you

[Xyz22]

[Vanja #66]

Sainz was on used tyres in Q3, was out of new sets due to Q1 error in T1 after red flag... That Q1 mistake cost him a lot of time, but I doubt he could have gone to P3. Was lucky to keep P4 though...

[Xyz22]

Sainz was on used tyres in Q3, was out of new sets due to Q1 error in T1 after red flag... That Q1 mistake cost him a lot of time, but I doubt he could have gone to P3. Was lucky to keep P4 though...

Only last Q3 run was on used softs. First was on a new set.

Anyway, RB speed with DRS is still absolutely insane. In the main straight before turn 1 Max was 11 km/h quicker than Leclerc.

[deadhead]

Fact is, LEC got on pole thanks to S2 and a very good S1. Both of those sectors are the slower stuff where traction means a lot, this was NOT the case in Bahrain. There's reason to really believe Ferrari found something to improve the car over the break via improvements in setup because their S3 is equally strong as RBR.

Will it be enough for the race? Before seeing telemetry or any race sim I highly doubt it, but that should put them clear 2nd best car.

EDIT: SAI on the other hand is pretty inexcusable right now and given LEC's rumors of looking for some leverage for new contract negotiation I wouldn't risk losing a guy that is so much faster in quali/race on average.

I think this can be explained quite well by the development history of the SF-23, at least if the rumors I have heard are true, and it would make sense. Binotto and Sanchez wanted the SF-23 to continue in the same direction as the F1-75. However, which is said to have been one of the reasons for Binotto's falling out with Vigna and also for Sanchez's decision to leave, Vigna must have interfered (a very normal practice at Ferrari since 2007 and before 1996) in the development and demanded lower drag. A Ferrari was not likely to be outrun by a Red Bull on the straights. This messed up a lot of the SF-23 and downforce was sacrificed in favor of drag, hence Vigna's "from the fastest Ferrari" comment at the presentation. I think there was a turnaround (and Vigna made it happen based on the results) and they went after downforce, as Sanchez and Binotto actually wanted, which brought the SF-23 and its concept back into balance. The fact that they went back to Rory Byrne six weeks ago and are listening to him again certainly helps. So everything would fit together. But first we'll have to wait and see.

So he just couldn't handle being outdone on the straight by a Honda powered car? That's really shortsighted.

[f1316]

Sainz was on used tyres in Q3, was out of new sets due to Q1 error in T1 after red flag... That Q1 mistake cost him a lot of time, but I doubt he could have gone to P3. Was lucky to keep P4 though...

Only last Q3 run was on used softs. First was on a new set.

Anyway, RB speed with DRS is still absolutely insane. In the main straight before turn 1 Max was 11 km/h quicker than Leclerc.

In some ways isn’t this encouraging for Ferrari?

It won’t be good if Max is <1 sec behind in the race - I’m sure he’ll sail by - but if one of RB’s advantages is under DRS, which can be used during twice in quali and Leclerc still ended up faster, then on a normal (non-DRS) race lap wouldn’t this favour Ferrari? I.e. an advantage of RB’s is taken away.

[AR3-GP]

Sainz was on used tyres in Q3, was out of new sets due to Q1 error in T1 after red flag... That Q1 mistake cost him a lot of time, but I doubt he could have gone to P3. Was lucky to keep P4 though...

Only last Q3 run was on used softs. First was on a new set.

Anyway, RB speed with DRS is still absolutely insane. In the main straight before turn 1 Max was 11 km/h quicker than Leclerc.

In some ways isn’t this encouraging for Ferrari?

It won’t be good if Max is <1 sec behind in the race - I’m sure he’ll sail by - but if one of RB’s advantages is under DRS, which can be used during twice in quali and Leclerc still ended up faster, then on a normal (non-DRS) race lap wouldn’t this favour Ferrari? I.e. an advantage of RB’s is taken away.

No idea actually. What we know is that so far this season, Red Bull have had a bigger margin in the races where they cannot use DRS, than the margin they have in qualifying where DRS is available.

If you just imagine that Ferrari already have 2 tenths margin in qualifying, and you use that like an offset for the race pace, then Ferrari will be much closer on race pace tomorrow. I estimate that they will be within half a second of RB on race pace, if not even faster because overall, they seem to have made the car faster by correcting balance issues that were present in Bahrain and Jeddah.

[dialtone]

Don't even want to imagine the shitshow if it turns out that Ferrari built a great car now that the setup is coming together and they fired the whole technical leadership team... That's the reason why I don't work in Italy, management culture there is crap, engineering talent remains top notch.

[AR3-GP]

Don't even want to imagine the shitshow if it turns out that Ferrari built a great car now that the setup is coming together and they fired the whole technical leadership team... That's the reason why I don't work in Italy, management culture there is crap, engineering talent remains top notch.

an unfortunate possibility

but as far as we know it's just Sanchez and Mekies right? Sanchez is already gone, and they managed to dig themselves out of the hole without him.

[jambuka]

The big question is if the car is equally good in race pace, will they be changing the concept and go with changing side pods ?

[AR3-GP]

The big question is if the car is equally good in race pace, will they be changing the concept and go with changing side pods ?

Ferrari never said they were changing their concept. The future developments in theory are only designed to enhance the current car.

[jambuka]

The big question is if the car is equally good in race pace, will they be changing the concept and go with changing side pods ?

Ferrari never said they were changing their concept. The future developments in theory are only designed to enhance the current car.

Don’t they have a range of upgrades planned for next 3-4 races one of which being sidepods change ?

[deadhead]

Right, but that doesn't necessarly mean change in concept..

[Xyz22]

Sainz was on used tyres in Q3, was out of new sets due to Q1 error in T1 after red flag... That Q1 mistake cost him a lot of time, but I doubt he could have gone to P3. Was lucky to keep P4 though...

Only last Q3 run was on used softs. First was on a new set.

Anyway, RB speed with DRS is still absolutely insane. In the main straight before turn 1 Max was 11 km/h quicker than Leclerc.

In some ways isn’t this encouraging for Ferrari?

It won’t be good if Max is <1 sec behind in the race - I’m sure he’ll sail by - but if one of RB’s advantages is under DRS, which can be used during twice in quali and Leclerc still ended up faster, then on a normal (non-DRS) race lap wouldn’t this favour Ferrari? I.e. an advantage of RB’s is taken away.

One of RB advantages. The other (the main one) is that their car is so stable in race trim. The balance has been so much better than the Ferrari and you can see how easy is for Max to push safely without taking too many risks. Ferrari drivers need to be much more cautious in order to protect the tyres and in some cases, like Jeddah, the car was just extremely slow. The RB 18 and 19 reminds me of the Ferrari 2002 which wasn't unbeatable in qualifying, but it was in race trim.