Heading into the 2023 season it was expected that the new leadership of Fred Vasseur would lead Ferrari to a more successful title challenge than last year.
The Frenchman replaced former team principal Mattia Binotto over the winter after a dreadful end to the season saw Ferrari narrowly hold on the second place in the constructors’ championship.
Despite being arguably the quickest team last season, reliability issues and strategic blunders from Ferrari allowed Red Bull to cruised to both championships with ease.
Vasseur has unfortunately not been able to overcome last season’s issues just yet, as Charles Leclerc was forced to retire from the Bahrain Grand Prix with a power unit issue, much to the disappointment of the 25-year-old.
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Ferrari changed Leclerc’s energy store before the race as a precaution and this was what failed during the race, meaning that the Monegasque driver has already used both of his available energy stores for the season.
The failed energy store was not recoverable and Leclerc will now serve a grid penalty to bring in a third component in only the second round of the season.
Whilst Leclerc will be furious with this early season setback, Vasseur has claimed that this disappointment will be cancelled out by a number of upgrades set to arrive for the SF-23.
Guiliano Duchessa has reported that small upgrades will be on the car for this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and more will follow for the Australian Grand Prix.
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This will come as music to the ears of Ferrari fans, who had to watch Carlos Sainz be beaten to a podium place by the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso in Bahrain.
The Scuderia may accept not being able to challenge Red Bull at the start of this season but it will be the bare minimum for the team to secure the runner up spot in the championship once again this year.
With Aston Martin looking strong and Mercedes set to improve, Ferrari will be hoping that these small upgrades have a significant impact on the performance of the struggling SF-23 in the coming weeks.