Charles Leclerc (MON) Ferrari SF-23. 01.04.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 3, Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Qualifying Day.
Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has ruled out Ferrari delivering a B-spec car in 2023 but confirmed it will introduce upgrades earlier than planned.
The Italian team has suffered a strenuous start to the new season, with its SF-23 package, an evolution of last year’s car, failing to scale the same early heights as its F1-75 predecessor.
Following a pointless weekend in Australia, Ferrari sits a distant fourth in the Constructors’ Championship without a podium to its name in the first three races.
However, the French boss has revealed updates initially planned for later in the year in Spain will arrive slightly earlier in time for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola in May.
Aside from races in Azerbaijan and Monaco that require specific downforce levels, Vasseur has disclosed Ferrari plans to bring new parts to most of the upcoming rounds.
“We have a flow of updates. Some will come not at Baku, because at Baku we have the aero package for the level of downforce, [and] with the sprint races it’s not the easiest one,” Vasseur explained.
“But from Miami, Imola, not Monaco but Barcelona, each race we will have an update on the car.
“We are sticking to the plan. We made some adjustment in terms of balance and the behaviour and it was much better in Melbourne and we’ll continue on this direction.”
“We will speed up. We will put all the resources to speed up the process and the updates that were planned for Barcelona will come in Imola and we will have one or two races the update in advance.”
Although Vasseur states Ferrari’s development rate has been accelerated, he has dismissed the possibility of it unleashing a new car concept potentially resembling that of the dominant Red Bull RB19.
“It’s not a B car,” he declared. “We won’t come with something completely different.
“We will continue to update this one and try to update massively.”
Along with the existing budget cap in place, Vasseur pointed to the restrictions on aerodynamic testing time as to why Ferrari can’t seek a philosophy change as early as this year.
“With the restriction in the wind tunnel if you have to start from scratch, I don’t want to say that it makes no sense, but it is very difficult,” he added.
“It means that we will adapt due to the circumstances. But you can’t change massively something in the course of the season.”
Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP) Ferrari SF-23. 02.04.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 3, Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Race Day.
Of the three races to take place this season Ferrari managed to win two of the three corresponding fixtures in 2022 to lead both Championships convincingly.
However, F1’s most successful side hasn’t come close to repeating that feat and has been unable to provide a match for Red Bull in the early exchanges of this year.
Despite the Maranello-based outfit’s dismal beginning to 2023 continuing in Australia, Vasseur has professed the team took positives from its performance in Melbourne.
While it delivered its worst qualifying display of the year so far with its drivers fifth and seventh on the grid, the long-run pace Carlos Sainz produced represented a noticeable improvement on the first two races.
“I think the issue in Melbourne was not the potential of the car, it was more that the job that we did as a team to extract the best from this,” he examined.
“In the race, the pace was okay. We were a bit unlucky on the Safety Car and red flag and we had to do an extra pit stop.
But after this that he [Sainz] was able to come back, to overtake a couple of cars, to push on the tyres and at the end to be close to Lewis [Hamilton] and [Fernando] Alonso.
“I think overall it was a good race and the direction that we took for the development of the car is proving a good one,” Vasseur continued.
Following Charles Leclerc’s opening lap clash that took him out of the running, a five-second time penalty for Sainz for tagging Alonso round during a late standing restart demoted the Spaniard from fourth to outside the points places.
Ferrari’s scoreless showing has left it closer to fifth-placed McLaren than Mercedes in third, with the Scuderia already a huge 97 points behind Red Bull at the top.
Keyword: Ferrari rules out B-spec car but confirms plan to accelerate upgrades