Ferrari F1 has increased confidence that the 2023 season will be even better, even before new team principal Frédéric Vasseur arrives at the factory on January 2 to start working with the team.
Having identified three key areas where this year’s F1-75 lacked compared to Red Bull, Ferrari’s technical department has made significant progress in those areas.
Wind tunnel data and CFD simulations, as well as engine dynamo, show that chassis 2023, which was developed under code number 675 for all team members, is a realistic battle between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz for the title. It gives you the calm confidence to give it a chance.
“We are working hard on the simulator and are confident for 2023,” said Charles Leclerc at the FIA’s annual awards ceremony.
“In recent months we have tried to understand what the weak points of the 2022 car are and I think we can improve them with the 2023 car.
Maranello sources say an analysis of the F1-75’s shortcomings has identified three areas where next year’s 675 clearly needs to make progress. Excessive aerodynamic drag, excessive tire wear and unreliable engines. As a basis, the F1-75 is a good place to start, with the understanding that the new car will only need a few improvements to be as competitive as it was in 2022 at the start of the season, as the teams hope to get them focused. on the area of
Ferrari believed the F1-75’s aero package was fine, but further analysis of the Red Bull RB18 showed that Red Bull’s front and rear wings were better able to withstand the FIA’s mandatory thrust and drag tests . more than the original.
Ferrari therefore invested in a new material that increases the wing’s resilience without compromising its structural strength, to give it the straight-line speed it lacked this year. As such, visually next year’s car won’t look much different from the F1-75 and Ferrari believes all the basic aero concepts of the 2022-spec car are correct.
As far as tire management is concerned, Ferrari has accepted with open arms to participate in all the tests that Pirelli has carried out this winter, to better understand them. Alfa Romeo, for example, sent reserve driver Robert Kubica to Paul Ricard to test the tyres, while Ferrari called Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in Maranello to get as much feedback from their drivers as possible.
The aim was to ensure that the new tires did not detract from the car’s understeer characteristics. This is to ensure that the driving styles of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are not compromised by the new tyre. Judging by the results obtained on the track and in the simulator, Ferrari is heading in the right direction here too.
Ultimately, it was an expected issue from Ferrari, but the F1 power unit is proving a bit fragile for 2022. This is the result of a big push before all engines are homologated and development is frozen until the end of the year. 2025.
Aiming to improve the reliability of the F1 power unit, changes have also been made to the V6 engine, centered around the hybrid system, allowing the team to run at full throttle for the first five rounds of the season, avoiding problems. No The reliability problems that began to plague the F1-75 at the Spanish Grand Prix forced the Italian team to run with more conservative engine settings until the end of the year.
Mattia Binotto admits that the measurements “later were 15-20 HP”.
Technically things seem to be going well for Ferrari and when Frédéric Vasseur starts work in Maranello in two weeks time he will find a very confident team and the human structure of the team will improve. .
