Ferrari celebrated its last victory in Formula 1 at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2022. About a year later, the Scuderia is returning to Spielberg, but the then race winner Charles Leclerc explains that in 2023 they have “different goals” than a year ago.
“Last year we were in a completely different situation,” he recalls, explaining that twelve months ago they had “a very competitive car” and fought with Red Bull. “Unfortunately, this year we know that Red Bull is still pretty far ahead in terms of race pace,” said Leclerc.
A win is therefore not an issue this weekend, emphasizes the Monegasque. The last “good” race in Canada doesn’t change that. “[Wir sind] still a long way from the level that we want to achieve,” the reigning vice world champion clarifies.
“Because I still believe that Red Bull was the car to beat in Canada,” said Leclerc, “even if Helmut [Marko] said we were the fastest car on the track, which to be honest I don’t believe.”
“They were actually the fastest on both tires,” Helmut Marko explained to ‘ServusTV’ after the Canadian Grand Prix with regard to Ferrari. Leclerc doubts that. “But it was a positive step in the right direction, especially in terms of consistency and feeling,” he said.
“Some small upgrades” for the SF-23
“And when those two things come together, the performance is usually better. But it’s a completely different track here and it will be important to confirm the positive feeling Canada has,” said last year’s winner ahead of the Austria weekend.
“To be honest, I don’t see any reason why [Kanada] should suit our car better than a track like this,” he explains optimistically, adding that Ferrari brought “some small upgrades” to the SF-23 for this weekend.
“The first part of the season was all about understanding the car and figuring out why the car was so inconsistent from track to track. So it’s important that we take the step forward that we have with the new parts in Spain have done,” said Leclerc.
According to teammate Carlos Sainz, the race in Montreal was “a good boost for the whole team” because “finally” the race pace was right. In addition, there is the fact “that we moved forward in the race and not backwards,” says Sainz.
Because while qualifying is normally Ferrari’s strength, in Canada they failed. In the race, Leclerc and Sainz went from tenth and eleventh on the grid to positions four and five.
Why Sainz has no “naive” expectations
“We finished fourth and fifth, that’s a similar result to the other race weekends we’ve had,” said Sainz. Due to the race to catch up, however, the perception was different, but the pace itself was “definitely” better.
The Scuderia helped that Canada is a track where tire degradation is generally low. “And then there are no high-speed corners, that helps us,” said Sainz. These two factors together have met Ferrari there.
He hopes that the Spielberg updates will be “another step in the right direction,” he explains, revealing that they worked “overtime” in Maranello to get the parts into the car here. “I hope they all pay off and we can be competitive at the weekend,” said Sainz.
He hopes that Canada is the start of a “trend” for Ferrari, but also emphasizes: “I think Canada suits us more than Austria.” In doing so, he somewhat contradicts his team-mate in this regard. However, the two agree that under normal circumstances Ferrari will probably not be a candidate for victory at the weekend.
To believe that just one update will catch up with Red Bull is “naïve and unrealistic,” says Sainz, who explains: “Will the upgrade address our weaknesses and hopefully bring us closer? Yes.”
Ferrari’s biggest problem is called Red Bull
“But if Red Bull brings an upgrade to Austria, or at some point in the near future, that also means that our upgrade will be less big. Everything is relative in Formula 1,” recalls the Spaniard.
“I hope that this upgrade, similar to what we saw at Barcelona, opens a small development window and gives us new opportunities to set the car up so that we can move in the right direction,” explains Sainz.
When asked about the fact that the last Ferrari victory was around a year ago, he replied with a smile in view of his own failure at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix: “It was also a year ago that I almost burned to death …”
Again seriously, the Spaniard explains that it has been “a long year” and “tough” for Ferrari since then. You had difficulties at the end of the 2022 season and then took this negative momentum into the new year.
Now it won’t be “easy” to get back on the road to victory because Red Bull is currently overpowering in Formula 1. But that’s not just a problem for Ferrari, other teams like Mercedes are also currently suffering from Red Bull dominance.
The Bulls have won all eight races of the 2023 season so far. And Ferrari assumes that this series will normally continue at the Red Bull home game in Spielberg.