These are Ferrari’s key improvements for the Spanish GP

“Where are the Ferrari improvements? You are going to meet them…”Carlos Sainz said at the Spanish Grand Prix on Thursday. And this Friday, at the FIA-mandated presentation of the new single-seater in the pitlane, all the photographer’s aim was to Ferrari SF23.he was right CarlosThe new features presented by the Italian team at this race are visible to the naked eye and the red team hopes they will be an important step before and after the car’s development from this Friday’s free practice. This is the beginning of a precise path to start building closer to Aston Martin and Red Bull.

This change is notorious, especially on pontoons. The design of the body side is different. Previously, the outer edge was curved, Now Ferrari is betting on straight-sided pods. with Rear drop is not as pronounced and exaggerated as Red Bull’s sidepods. Previously, the ‘sidepod’ central bathtub was more curved, but now Ferrari is working on a central channel closer to the concept of its competitors.

this is the previous ferrari

As Ferrari claims in an official FIA document, the change will allow the team to “re-tune the airflow towards the rear wing and rear corner assembly, combined with different cooling flows to increase the overall efficiency of the vehicle. We are pursuing the goal of

Of particular importance is the new engine hood. But above all The new soil they brought to Barcelona, ​​as the latter is a key component of current F1 carswhich provides most of the downforce and the final performance of the car. Ferrari says the floor has been specifically designed to match the sidepod updates. “With the sidepod upgrades, the main body and floor edge of the floor have also evolved, adopting a new shape that optimizes flow and further enhances loading benefits.”

he Ferrari has also introduced changes to the rear wing “to cover the aerodynamic efficiency requirements of the Barcelona circuit”. Because if the car works well here, it will work well at many other circuits.

“What was it like in the simulator? I hope it’s a small step forward, but it won’t be life-changing.”added Carlos, keeping it a secret that things are starting to show up at the Barcelona track.

A new way to improve and two important aspects

What Sainz wanted to make clear was that despite the large changes visible to the naked eye, “It’s a small step forward, but hopefully not life-changing.”He added that it will be key for the team to start on the right path to continue improving after a difficult start to the season.

At the beginning of this course, Ferrari He ran into a very fast SF23 for one lap, but had some significant issues. His car allowed him to contend for pole position on Saturday, but in a variety of circumstances it was very difficult to figure it out. When the course changed or the gas load changed, the performance changed a lot. Especially in the race, the tires deteriorated greatly and the vehicle broke down. Ferrari was able to go very fast in a very limited period of work, but once we got out of it, the tires were no longer consistent with their performance. They struggled in the race and lost out on Sunday’s podium option.Only Leclerc could finish on the podium Baku.

Another big problem was that the car was very difficult to drive. And above all, when Charles and Carlos did not expect it at all, suddenly and in an incomprehensible way, with no accident, no summit, no possibility of salvation, it frightened him. These, he said, are two problems that Ferrari hopes to solve with these evolutions.

“The improvement package has two main objectives, one is to improve race pace, because the car can be very unpredictable at times, very variable from session to session and very difficult to drive again. It’s also related to a difficult reason: “It happened to Charles[Leclerc]and me sometimes,” he commented.

“We know our weak point is race pace more than anything else. After a lap we know we’re not bad. The pace suffers but that’s what we’re trying to fix and hopefully this weekend we’ll make some progress.I already expected what we bring this weekend will not change our lives. But on the contrary, it’s a first step, a step in the direction that we believe is right, but there’s a lot more going on and we try to challenge each race Red Bull to get closer to,” he added in front of the Spanish press.

“Record times and the evolution of juggling”

Carlos Sainz wanted to underline that Ferrari had made a great “effort” to bring “an improvement package that was not planned at Barcelona” and had done so “in record time”.

“Barcelona was the perfect circuit to bring these improvements, and we also brought in some additional prototype hard wheels to test what we wanted to test.” I think it’s an ideal circuit and that’s why the team has put in so much effort to bring improvements that are in principle impossible for Barcelona.But given the situation we’re in and how important it is to change direction a bit, The team put in a brutal effort, Maranello, to say nothing of the juggling they had to do to get to this Grand Prix. That’s why it motivates me and I’m happy to see the team put in a great effort.I’m engaged and I want to change the situation.” Carlos commented.

Ferrari needs to be precise with this move. With the cost cap looming, if these new ideas have to be scrapped, we can’t afford any more.