If you just look at qualifying, Charles Leclerc was the most successful driver in the final phase of the 2023 Formula 1 season. The Monegasque driver did not win in the last five races of the year, but he did put the Ferrari on pole position three times.
In doing so, he took one more pole than in the previous 17 races combined – which, according to his own statement, is no coincidence. “I think our season had two parts: the time before Japan and the time after Japan, at least on my side. Since Japan I feel much more comfortable with the car,” reveals Leclerc.
Background: Scuderia brought, among other things, a new underbody for the SF-23 to Japan, which probably helped Leclerc in particular because: “We worked on the car’s consistency under different conditions, which helped my driving style a lot.”
“I really like having an oversteering car and a strong front,” explains Leclerc, who had repeatedly emphasized over the course of the season that the 2023 Ferrari was completely unpredictable on the track.
From Suzuka onwards, Leclerc is almost always ahead of Sainz
Among other things, he said about the car in May: “The car doesn’t even behave consistently from corner to corner. In the same corner I can have a balance with a big tendency to oversteer and then a big tendency to understeer.”
Since Japan, however, things have gone “in the right direction,” said Leclerc. This was also reflected in the results, as at the previous races in Zandvoort, Monza and Singapore, teammate Carlos Sainz had beaten him three times in a row in qualifying and the race.
In Monza and Singapore, the Spaniard even put the Ferrari on pole and in Singapore on Sunday he also took the only non-Red Bull victory of the entire season. From Suzuka onwards, the relationship between the two Ferrari drivers changed completely.
By the end of the season, Leclerc left Sainz behind in all seven remaining qualifying sessions, and in the race duel he was ahead five times, with his only two defeats being his disqualification in Austin and his retirement in Sao Paulo.
Vasseur: Japan was just “a small upgrade”
Frédéric Vasseur has also observed: “Charles was in much better shape in the latter part of the season, in the last six or seven races.” He added to Sky: “It’s a good analysis that we had a small upgrade in Japan.”
“I do not know if [das Update] was something bigger in terms of pure performance. But I think in terms of comfort it was important and very beneficial for Charles. But sometimes it’s a question of details,” said the Ferrari team boss.
What is actually striking is that Leclerc in particular apparently benefited from the Suzuka update, while his teammate did not. This suggests that it was actually more about the feel of the car than the pure performance of the SF-23.
“Ultimately it’s about tenths of a second. […] “Federer can win at Wimbledon one day and lose the next,” Vasseur draws a comparison and reminds: “Five years ago, the Mercedes drivers could miss a corner and still be in pole position.”
Vasseur warns: You should not overestimate an update
“That’s no longer the case today. If you miss a corner, you’re out in Q1,” emphasizes the team boss and explains: “That means that we can’t draw too big a conclusion after a single change or something similar.”
He also explains that an additional factor could have been that the routes from Suzuka Leclerc were simply better located. Overall, there was simply “a positive dynamic” at the Monegasque in the last races of the season, says Vasseur happily.
The team boss definitely doesn’t believe that the update alone was responsible for the good performances of the past few weeks. “We have worked a lot on the set-up and the processes on the track this season,” explains Vasseur.
The last really big update was released “in July,” he emphasizes and explains: “If you compare the pace we had in Zandvoort and the pace we had [in Abu Dhabi] with almost the same car, then that means we have taken a big step forward.”
At least for Charles Leclerc, the actually smaller Suzuka update also seems to have made a big difference.