Clear's interview where he explains several points about the car's design and where it's missing out. Lots of details.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferr ... /10467868/
Although the /driver) duo had initially reported during Friday practice that the car was less spiky, Ferrari says making the car increasingly “predictable” remains top of the priority list.
Jock Clear - who fronted the Ferrari car technical presentation to the media last weekend - reckoned the SF-23’s temperament was a blend of set-up and aerodynamic characteristics. Clear, Leclerc’s driver coach, explained: “It's always a combination of both.
“With a new aero package over the winter, we've taken a while to find the set-up.This floor contributes to getting the car in a better window, as the drivers were reporting earlier it is peaky. We need to get rid of some of that peakiness. That's probably the main focus at the moment, to make the car a bit more benign so the drivers have a bit more confidence.”
Clear outlined that in this ground-effects era of F1, revising the way the floor interacts with the rear wing and tyres was a critical area. This has only been enhanced by the mandated 15mm rise in the floor edge for 2023, a measure introduced by the FIA to limit porpoising.
He said: “The height of the floor relative to the ground is a huge influence on the whole package of downforce. You generate so much downforce on the floor and the rear wing, but they're interconnected. So, that's the area of most people's development. The section just ahead of the rear wheel, where you're controlling the flow that goes either outside the wheel or inside the wheel and therefore into the diffuser area. The changes are quite subtle… but actually, in aerodynamic terms, they're quite powerful. It's just a response to the feedback we've had from the drivers through the first four races of the year in where the car is deficient.”
He continued: “You can move the air around slightly… so give the driver a more consistent balance through medium-speed, high-speed, low-speed, and braking and entry and then exit. All those areas where the floor is moving around a lot, we can try and make the car a bit more benign. That makes it more predictable for the driver.”
The way I see it, the problem is as we discussed here - the car has a good peak of all-round performance, but it has a narrow window in many ways. What is described here sounds like rear tyre squirt management, which Ferrari now has a lot of trouble with (since it wasn't reported last year in this way). Reading between the lines a bit, it came with floor edge raising - which coincides with less predictable car in 2022 since Spa, after they had to raise it to help with bouncing.
This remains an issue where a more stable car would help (you don't care if you have a peaky car if you can keep it at that peak at any time at any track) so suspension can help a lot with it in practice. However, as I mentioned earlier, there is a certain physical similarity with W13 - large and exposed rear of the floor (noticeably larger surface than 2022 car) I wouldn't be surprised if this is also part of the reasons for Ferrari's issues, a floor too flexible for its own good. Since Clear himself says that small changes in geometry have a big effect, having that rear part of the floor that flexes in a way you don't expect at times you don't expect will leave you with a lot of performance swings and head scratching.