Following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz has revealed that Ferrari finally know what the SF-23’s “weak point” is, after enduring a challenging start to the 2023 season.
After being labelled as a title contender ahead of the season-opener in Bahrain, Ferrari have turned out to be anything but that this year.
The Maranello-based team have already slipped to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship and have faced engine gremlins once again, despite having reportedly fixed all their power unit-based reliability faults from 2022.
Charles Leclerc retired from the season-opener due to a power unit failure, with the Monegasque having then taken a 10-place grid penalty in Saudi Arabia as a result of his engine’s issues in Bahrain.
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The 25-year-old got through both of his legal sets of control electronics in Bahrain, meaning he was forced to take a third set in Saudi Arabia.
It’s not just engine issues which are letting Ferrari down, with the side also enduring downforce woes.
Red Bull’s downforce on the other hand is exceptional, with a rival engineer having identified that the Austrians can “run without major consequences”.
“The ability to generate a lot of downforce at all speeds and in all types of corners, technical and otherwise, is impressive. When we finish rotating, they are already accelerating. We have to compromise an area of the track in favor of balance, we have to. They can run without major compromises,” revealed a rival engineer, as reported by Formu1a.uno.
It’s not all doom and gloom for the Italians, though, despite having finished outside the top five at the Jeddah, with Sainz having revealed that progress is being made in Maranello.
According to Sainz “the car behaves exactly like in the wind tunnel“, meaning some progress is finally being made.
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“We know where the problem lies in the tunnel, what the weak point is,” added Sainz.
“We also know how to develop the car further but we need time to produce the updates. This could completely change our season.”
Ferrari will likely bring updates to the next few rounds of the season, with Leclerc having also been delivered with the good news that his engine from Bahrain can be used again later in the year.