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Ferrari's Big Problems in Formula 1 This Season

Ferrari's fight for the championship started almost disastrously after being beaten by Red Bull. Charles Leclerc had to make an all too familiar decision of retiring because of a power unit problem.
Ferrari's Big Problems for the 2023 Formula 1 Season 11 photos
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari
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Everyone was super excited by the coming of the new boss Frederic Vasseur, especially Charles Leclerc, who worked with Vasseur in the past when he was a part of the Sauber F1 Team (now Alfa Romeo). Still, he said some good words after the event in Bahrain, declaring that Ferrari could not win or lose the championship in the first race. And he is right because it would be foolish and hypocritical to write off and dismiss Ferrari's hopes entirely after just one bad race, but we can still draw some conclusions.

It's quite clear that the Italian team has a big task ahead to catch and beat Red Bull. I forgot to say that Charles Leclerc will have a grid penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Things are getting better and better.

Even before the Bahrain Grand Prix, there were bad moments for Charles and the Italian team. After the qualifying sessions, the Ferrari power unit required a new energy store and controlled electronics. As a matter of fact, teams are allowed only two of these components per season. Funny enough, Leclerc had to retire with some problems with the internal combustion engine. Frederic Vasseur was stunned because, during pre-season running, the Ferrari-powered squads (Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and Haas) completed more than 1,200 laps between them. Still, after reliability problems denied any title ambition for Leclerc last year, it's definitely very frustrating for him.

Ferrari's Big Problems for the 2023 Formula 1 Season
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari
Compared to last year, especially at the beginning of the season, the Ferrari car was extremely quick and reliable. The Italian team was always neck in neck with Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. As a positive thing, Ferrari was able to match the Austrian team's pace in qualifying, and at the same time, Leclerc was doing similar times with the defending world champion in the first stint. At least, that's what Vasseur was saying after the race.

We need to remember that Charles only completed one lap in Q3 to keep a fresh set of tires for the race. He was 0.3 seconds behind Verstappen, so we can assume the gap between them would have been smaller. Ferrari was strong on the straight lines, proving that the Italian team made gains in terms of reducing the drag level of its car. The facts are speaking against Vasseur because Leclerc and Ferrari weren't even close to taking the pole, and during that first stint, Leclerc was losing time consistently to Verstappen while being on fresher tires.

We can see that Ferrari has multiple problems. While you can argue that the Italian cars were as quick as Red Bull's in qualifying condition, it's quite far fetched to say that they were matching it. Even with fresher tires than the Austrian team, Ferrari was giving away half a second per lap, which is a considerable amount of time. Plus, we don't even know how much of the full potential of the RB19 we even saw. Carlos Sainz struggled so much with his Ferrari that he even allowed Aston Martin to have a pace advantage, with the two-time world champion Fernando Alonso overtaking his compatriot without much effort for the last place on the podium.

Ferrari is expected to be better suited to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia. However, wasn't that the case with the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain? I mean, let me remind you that last year in Bahrain, Leclerc went toe to toe with Verstappen and beat the world champion. The question now is, are we in for a season of total Red Bull domination? Even more than we saw last year? Is it Mercedes 2.0? At the same time, there are reasons to believe Bahrain may turn out to be at the extreme end of that domination.

Ferrari's Big Problems for the 2023 Formula 1 Season
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari
The aerodynamic efficiency of last year's Red Bull made it very difficult for Ferrari to race against it, even though the Italian team had greater peak downforce. Maybe that is why Ferrari has focused so much this year on improving straight-line speed, even at the expense of some downforce. However, the Italian team seems to be using the rear tires too much now, which is a big no-no because of the circuit's high tire degradation.

In theory, Ferrari should be much closer to Red Bull on the classic and conventional tracks. In addition, they are in much better shape than Mercedes. Frederic Vasseur and the engineers are declaring that there is nothing conceptually wrong with the SF-23. The performance over one lap should be able to be replicated at most of the tracks in the 2023 calendar.

Still, Ferrari has to make outright performance gains, and I read that upgrades are already in the works. It's good that Ferrari is self-conscious. But how much of that Ferrari car could be improved? Should they already turn their head for the 2024 season? We will see what happens in the next couple of races.
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About the author: Silvian Irimia
Silvian Irimia profile photo

Silvian may be the youngest member of our team, being born in the 2000s, but you won't find someone more passionate than him when it comes to motorsport. An automotive engineer by trade, Silvian considers the Ferrari F50 his favorite car, with the original Lamborghini Countach a close second.
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