Ferrari F1 boss Frederic Vasseur recently opened up about the constant issues posed by the draggy SF-23. The 2023 season has been a one-to-forget so far for the Maranello team. Race after race the team has struggled with either race pace or reliability issues which don’t seem to go away. Moreover, the unprecedented crashes of Charles Leclerc have only added to the disappointment of the team.
As of now, the Red Team stands 4th in the constructor’s standings, already a two-place rebate to their final position in 2022. Mercedes and Aston Martin have been able to outpace the Red car with ease this season, especially after the recent upgrades by the Brackley team. Notably, Vasseur is under high pressure to deliver for the team after his induction in the team following the ousting of Mattia Binotto. However, the situation this season has gone from bad to abysmal.
Charles Leclerc had a nightmare of a weekend at the Spanish GP. After a shattering Q1 exit on Saturday, the Monegasque could not get to points finish on Sunday. Meanwhile, Sainz after qualifying 2nd dropped three places to come home in 5th. Recently, team boss Vasseur gave his two cents on this challenging situation.
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SF-23 Very Tough to Understand: Frederic Vasseur
In a recent interview with Sky Sports, the Italian boss talked about the underperforming SF-23. Even after seven rounds of racing, the team hasn’t been able to figure out the intricacies of the car and its inconsistent nature.
“We are there in qualifying, and we are not there in the race. We are still inconsistent on the same car between compounds and sometimes between the same compounds,” said Vasseur as reported by SkySports.
Ferrari can challenge Mercedes going ahead
The Silver Arrows have had a worthy comeback as they achieved a double podium finish in Spain. They now stand second in the constructor’s standing with 152 points under the belt. Meanwhile, the Red Team, which is at a 52 points deficit, is hopeful to make a comeback. Vasseur remarked that the men in Maranello are constantly working on the issues and they can certainly imagine a fight with Mercedes.
“We have 1,000 people [working] on this now and it is very difficult to understand and to fix it because it’s not always the same problem. “I think as soon as we will unlock the situation with consistency we can imagine to fight with them [Mercedes] all over the race,” added the team boss.
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