Ferrari finished the 2023 season in third place in the constructors' championship. A result that disappointed initial expectations but which derives from the shortcomings that the red team brought with it from the previous season, even if perhaps "hidden" by the apparent power of the F1-75 in the initial phase of the 2022 championship. Returning to the 2023 car, over the months the SF-23 has improved thanks to a series of targeted interventions on specific areas. Interventions that marked the first steps of the new project, that of the 676, which is taking shape in Maranello. In a long interview granted to Motorsport.com Enrico Cardile, Ferrari technical director analyzed the mistakes that have been made, and the areas on which the team has been working for some time for 2024, well before the championship, which has just been held, ended.
Continuity was chosen
One of the first things Enrico Cardile admits is that the SF-23 was not born from a revolution, but rather that this was created on the basis of a philosophy that had already been tested on the F1-75, the single-seater of the previous year.
“The 2022 car was developed following a concept linked to an objective, the shape of the single-seater was a consequence of what we wanted to achieve. The SF-23 was developed in continuity with the 2022 car, with the aim of improving some limitations of the previous single-seater."
Ferrari therefore chose continuity, which however did not pay off. Already from the pre-season tests the team had realized that they had a problem rather than a solution on their hands, so much so that the first part of the season highlighted this lack. An attempt was made to make up for this lack in the following months with various update packages, as in Spain and Austria. TO Singapore a victory also came for Ferrari, the only one for a team other than Red Bull.
When solutions become limits
“Overall we achieved our objective, because the car on track respected the results seen in the simulations. So, from this point of view, there were no surprises. The problem is that already in the pre-season tests we realized that the direction we had taken was not the best performing. The most profitable. At that point we had to review our objectives on the aerodynamic development front and work to try to fill the gaps."
Among the most important limitations of Ferrari, not to be repeated in 2024, Cardile highlights those mainly linked to the chassis, or the anti-intrusion cone: “the difference between our car and the Red Bull style ones is in the radiator outlets, what is called pod in jargon. The design of this area on our car was larger than on the Red Bull, but there's a reason why. We used this area of the bodywork to modify the air pressure parameters with the aim of controlling the [dirty] trail coming from the tires. The moment you decide that to hit a different target you need different shapes, the position of the electronics, the design of the frame and the position of the lower anti-intrusion cone become limits."
The challenges faced last season
The team's goal is to give the driver a car that is easy to read and interpret. Which in 2023 was not achieved every weekend. Furthermore, the SF-23 at the beginning of the season had a rather short window of use, which has gradually improved. Cardile explained that much of the work was directed at aerodynamics. But completely renewing the chassis and gearbox would have practically meant developing a new car. Which is not possible during the current season. However, he underlined the importance of aerodynamics to make the car even more stable and thus allow drivers to extract the most from it.
“In the right conditions we have good performances, and again net of a Red Bull that was flying compared to us, they are absolutely not bad. However, when the wind is added to a certain yaw angle, the driver loses confidence because he does not know when there will be a gust of wind, the direction in which it is blowing and how this will influence the behavior of the car.".
Another aspect that should not be underestimated is bouncing."because it kind of limits the project in terms of what you can do.” Speaking about the characteristics of the SF-23, Cardile admitted that the strengths of the SF-23 emerged in the slow corners, but that there were difficulties in the medium and high speed sections. Being able to create a car that works well on the entire track is not an easy exercise. Especially given the complexity of the technical regulations which have made attention to detail paramount, particularly in managing the sensitivity of the bottom area.
Cardile: “In 2024 we will see a different Ferrari"
To conclude, the 2024 single-seater, as explained by Cardile, will mark a sort of small revolution. Starting from the mistakes and understanding of the previous machine to arrive step by step at the perfect shape.
“With the 2024 single-seater we will turn the page, the project is different, we understood that to achieve the objectives we have set ourselves we need a different car. As a result, next year you will see a car designed differently to the concept brought to the track in 2022."
