So it hurts. It is inevitable. Let's talk about a different pain, but still very strong that still affects the Ferrari. The Maranello stable does not go beyond the sixth and seventh square a Jeddah, with an SF-23 that can't really figure out which way to go.
Ferrari, this race really hurts
We are only at the beginning, it's clear. Two races out of twenty-three are nothing, but the way these results are achieved must be a wake-up call. Ferrari comes out of Jeddah as the fourth force in the world championship in the race. Vasseur he repeated it several times: “A car that goes fast in qualifying cannot fail to go in the race”. The reasoning is flawless, but it cannot be hidden that for now it is so. In fact, the SF-23 finished in the front row on Saturday qualifying, only to fail to overtake a Mercedes the following day. The problem in the race is not related to degradation, as was the case last year, but precisely because of the lack of speed with some compounds. Which is even more worrying.
The speed problem
After a good stint on the soft tires with Leclerc, the problem started with the hard tyres. The cursed hard rubbers. The Ducati really fails to perform with this type of compound, as there are no problems with pace that arise lap after lap (thus triggering degradation) but a very slow pace from the moment the tires are mounted. A single silver lining is always about the pilot couple: Sainz didn't do terribly badly, while Leclerc both Saturday and Sunday he recalled the idea, not that there was a need for it, how strong it is. Second position snatched in qualifying and super comeback before switching to hard tyres. In the Ferrari house, work will undoubtedly have to be done, but certainly these two with a car as fast as the others would not disappoint expectations.
Time to work
And now there's the break. It arrives in two weeks Australia, an even more different track in which, in view of the three weeks break before Baku, the first data of a start to the season will already begin, at least at the moment, clearly below expectations.
