Fakepivot wrote: ↑15 Aug 2025, 21:24
why does everyone point towards TD039? imo they should have switched to downslope side pod in 2023 starting year itself, imagine if first sf24 was introduced in 2023 they would have more to learn about new concept and maybe could have been stronger this year
I think 2023 was a massive failure by Ferrari too. As far as I remember, they tried some extreme fix for the 2022 car’s weaknesses and ended up creating something that was draggy, hard to set up and still not kind on the tyres. The SF23, in hindsight, looks like a confused design direction. It's not a clear evolution of the F1-75 and it is also not really a step toward what became the SF24.
A lackluster car which had a narrow operating window and obviously never really offered a strong development path considering it was scrapped. It was only the second year of the new regulations and I guess Ferrari were set on doing things their own way, since back then there was no obvious “superior” solution. Flash forward to 2025 and pretty much all cars have converged sidepod-wise, so there is definitely a correct way of doing things in this regulation cycle and Red Bull managed to crack it right from the start. With hindsight, of course it would have been better for Ferrari to have gone the SF24 route with the SF23. But you have to consider their position at the time. They were taking risks, because they wanted to beat RedBull. Unfortunately, didn't work out.