[AMuS] What is wrong at Ferrari? Lots of questions, no answers
Every weekend the same questions, always the same answers. The Ferrari is fast on a lap, but it lacks consistency. Even after the big upgrade.
Ferrari is a mystery to everyone. Most of all to those who know the car best. The story repeats itself from race to race. On Saturday, good grid positions give hope. On Sunday, the SF-23 is a different race car. After seven races, there is only one podium to show for it. That was not even in the crisis year of 2020.Yet the current car has much more potential than the Ferrari SF1000 of three years ago. It just can't realize it in the race. Because the drivers can't trust their car. It constantly changes its behavior. From stint to stint, from lap to lap, sometimes from corner to corner. "You never know: Is understeer or oversteer coming," complains Charles Leclerc.A different car on SundayThe Spanish GP was a mirror of the races before it, despite the general rebuild of the sidepods and underbody. In the 66 laps, Carlos Sainz never recognized the car that had carried him to second place on the grid on Saturday. The first and last stints were decent, the middle miserable. Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Sergio Perez flew by with the better speed. Resistance was futile.Charles Leclerc logically experienced a different race after his start from the pit lane. His direction pointed forward. In the past, the runner-up in the 2022 World Championship would have finished fourth or fifth even in this starting position. This time it was only enough for eleventh place. The first stint was as bad as qualifying despite the replacement of the entire rear section, the second was acceptable, the third good. Although he drove hard tires again, as in the first section.It's these fluctuations that drive team management and drivers crazy. "Our biggest problem is the inconsistency. It can't be explained," team boss Frédéric Vasseur frets. It's said that at Maranello, the aerodynamicists blame the chassis engineers and vice versa. Not a good approach.
Quali grip masks aero problem
To some extent, there might be explanations after all. The Ferrari SF-23 would be a good race car if the track were a wind tunnel. On a qualifying lap, the extra grip of fresh soft tires masks almost all of the car's shortcomings. It's like a world in the lab. The weak points only come to light on Sunday, because from the second lap on, nothing is the same as on Saturday.Then the red cars are no longer alone on the track, but in traffic. Then the temperatures are higher or lower than the day before. Then the wind blows from a different direction. Then 110 instead of ten kilograms of gasoline are on board. Then the maximum power of the most powerful engine in the field is no longer available in unlimited quantities.The Ferrari obviously loses more downforce than its direct competitors when the car is set at an angle, when the load changes or when the front wheels are turned in. It jumps more on bumps. It drops out of its comfort zone more quickly with temperature fluctuations. In addition, it is extremely susceptible to wind. "Two or three degrees or a different wind direction can completely shift the balance," confirms Leclerc.After a good qualifying session, the slump regularly comes in the race.
Tires are the Achilles' heel
So many imponderables add up to cause the car to slip. This drives tire temperatures up and fuels the loss of grip. No matter which race track. In Monte Carlo and in Barcelona, we heard the drivers say, "If we attack for just one lap, the tires are screwed."Ferrari can only limit the severe tire wear if it devotes the entire weekend to this issue, as it did in Melbourne or Baku. But then you really don't stand a chance against a Red Bull, which can do both disciplines. And recently not even against Mercedes. Ferrari was still lucky in Barcelona that Aston Martin was out of shape.Vasseur admits to certain deficits, such as driving in traffic or temperature sensitivity, but that's not the answer for him: "The problems also sometimes occur when Charles and Carlos have free drive." Leclerc insists, "It's incredibly hard to find an answer because we don't see a pattern that gives us a clue. We can't focus on one cause. The biggest mystery for me is that the car reacts differently even though I'm doing the same thing."
Is the fault in the DNA?
The upgrade may have brought a bit of lap time on paper, but that's not Ferrari's construction site. The old problems remain. Carlos Sainz calls for a better understanding of the car and tires. That's easier said than done. This Ferrari cleverly evades analysis as to why the balance sometimes fits and sometimes not. Otherwise, answers and solutions would have been available long ago.
If the new path, which Vasseur says opens doors for other development directions, doesn't provide a remedy either, then the obvious conclusion is that it's a birth defect that's in the car's DNA. For example, aerodynamics that are designed too peaked because the engineers are too focused on maximum downforce. Or a suspension that is incapable of reliably keeping the SF-23 within the narrow window that the aerodynamics seem to give it.
Perhaps it would be advisable to take another look at the past. In Monaco, Leclerc no longer understood how the characteristics of a car can change so much within a year, even though visually it seems to have the same roots. From comfortable to unpredictable, from constant to moody.
You'd have to figure out when, where and why Ferrari took a wrong turn in developing the car last year. The when can be pinpointed. It was the upgrade to the 2022 French GP.
