Ferrari towards 2024: all the signs that give confidence

What is there to save in 2023 for Ferrari? Apparently little or nothing, given that the red car also lost the final sprint against Mercedes for second place in the Constructors’ World Championship, making Charles Leclerc’s efforts in vain. The Maranello team ended the championship 454 points behind the leaders Red Bull, i.e. less than half of the spoils collected by Max Verstappen’s team. A sidereal distance, both in arithmetic terms and for the difference seen on the track, if we calculate that the rivals have won all the races on the calendar except one, showcasing one of the most overwhelming dominance in the history of F.1.

results

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Beating this battleship and the three-time world champion is a titanic feat. But there were important signs of progress in the second part of the season, which suggest some signs of hope on the Ferrari side. After all, the Cavallino was the only one to prevent the Red Bull streak, winning the Singapore race with Carlos Sainz, and the pace shown by Leclerc in the last five races was better than previously and overall superior (at least) to that of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Not to mention the seven pole positions achieved by Leclerc (5) and Sainz (2), like the one in Monza with a special emotional value. Ferrari’s performance in qualifying was convincing. And this represents a strong point to be preserved in the next year.

Work

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While we still need to work a lot on the car’s performance throughout the race, where the gap to fill is enormous, especially if we take Verstappen and not the vulnerable Sergio Perez as a reference. On the positive side, the Maranello technicians understood the nature of the problems and tried to intervene on the car project for 2024. The main problem remains the excessive degradation of the tyres, which emerged in particular on tracks with fast corners, and was due to Ferrari’s downforce and balance deficit, which prevents the drivers from pushing continuously and takes away their confidence.

countdown

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Leclerc often fought with a wild “horse” that didn’t support him, because he prefers to drive the car by playing with the accelerator and oversteer, but the fact that he rediscovered the right sensations at the end of the championship gives hope that the developments have gone in the right direction. It’s a shame that Sainz’s sudden involution corresponded to this. A fast car could make life much easier for Frederic Vasseur and his men. But, as the team principal recognized, we will need to improve in all areas. The lack of reliability, resulting in the failure of Sainz to start in Qatar and Leclerc in Brazil, added to the other problems. And the strategic errors remained, despite a new leader on the wall, because the contribution of the “remote garage” engineers must be improved. It was Vasseur’s first year and it can be hoped that the Frenchman will complete the reorganization necessary to eliminate certain defects, perhaps strengthening the team with some important purchases. The countdown to the start of the next World Cup has already begun.