Ferrari's Monegascan driver Charles Leclerc drives during the third day of the Formula One (F1) pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmelo, Barcelona province, on February 25, 2022. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP) (Photo by LLUIS GENE/AFP via Getty Images)
Ferrari’s SF-23 was only 0.003 seconds faster than the F-75 at last weekend’s Bahrain GP
Ferrari got off to an average start as Charles Leclerc registered a DNF while Carlos Sainz saved the blushes by securing a P4. The Scuderia fans were really hopeful that there would be a great improvement from last season after the team made a number of changes including appointing Frederic Vasseur as Team Principal and designing the new SF-23 car. However, the team hardly made any improvements in terms of speed in Bahrain while their rivals Red Bull were faster by 0.8 seconds.
Ferrari had worked hard throughout the off-season to negate the reliability problems encountered in the F1-75 version but the SF-23 hardly seems to be an upgrade with Leclerc registering a DNF.
Besides that, the difference in load between Red Bull’s RB-19 and the SF-23 is evident. The low drag of the car is also clear in the race with high fuel and less dependence on the Power Unit than last year. Comparing the pace of the F1-75 and the SF-23 in the first two stints of the respective races in Bahrain clearly show that there has hardly been an improvement.
Let us take a look at some of the reactions from fans on social media.
“You know its bad when top-tier car manufacturers are being beaten by an energy drink”, wrote a fan.
“There is definitely something wrong with the setup. I can accept SF23 being behind RB19 but I just don’t believe that SF23 is just as fast as F1-75. I am pretty sure that there is some other issue.FTR, from telemetry, Charles’s last 5 laps before the retirement were surprisingly slow, even slower than Sainz”, tweeted another fan.
“So they did nothing?”, read a tweet from another disappointed fan.
“Ferrari please just write on your rear wing “next year” and let’s get over with this. At least you can be funny”, trolled another fan.
Another fan wrote: “Until 2026, this red bull will win nearly every race, strap in.
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