2023 Scuderia Ferrari F1 Team

[Stu]

What is the view on Schwartzman? I get the feeling that they were doing some aero-testing with him on Friday; there was a very skinny front wing in one of the pit photos from Thursday, a special for Monza?

[Vanja #66]

It was P3 and in Bahrain Alo was significantly quicker if we look at the pure pace.

Leclerc dropped the pace as soon as Perez overtook him and covered Sainz from that point on. Up to that point, he was significantly faster than Alonso.

What is the view on Schwartzman? I get the feeling that they were doing some aero-testing with him on Friday; there was a very skinny front wing in one of the pit photos from Thursday, a special for Monza?

They were actually comparing high load configurations from what they told the reporters, trying to find a way to use highest load rear wing. Did not succeed.

[Sevach]

Following the theme.

[organic]

Upgrade will not include a change in the sidepod according to this

[AR3-GP]

It was P3 and in Bahrain Alo was significantly quicker if we look at the pure pace.

Leclerc dropped the pace as soon as Perez overtook him and covered Sainz from that point on. Up to that point, he was significantly faster than Alonso.

Alonso had been stuck behind the others though.

Actually now I remember this great argument from many months ago, why I initially said Leclerc was “P2”….but at the time I argued Aston was already faster.

Alonso drove circles around two Mercs and Sainz. AMR was faster. Way faster. Alonso just didn’t have the grid position.

[Xyz22]

It was P3 and in Bahrain Alo was significantly quicker if we look at the pure pace.

Leclerc dropped the pace as soon as Perez overtook him and covered Sainz from that point on. Up to that point, he was significantly faster than Alonso.

Alonso had been stuck behind the others though.

Actually now I remember this great argument from many months ago, why I initially said Leclerc was “P2”….but at the time I argued Aston was already faster.

Alonso drove circles around two Mercs and Sainz. AMR was faster. Way faster. Alonso just didn’t have the grid position.

Alonso --- up quali and the opening lap. In the last stint, in free air, his pace was in another league. No way Charles could have matched his lap times.

Anyway, i see unrealistic expectations for this race. Ferrari got 1 real pole this year in Baku, a track which "suited the SF 23, and in the sprint format which didn't allow other teams to improve their cars over the weekend (a trend we have seen multiple times this year relatively to Ferrari). Moreover, Leclerc is super quick in Baku and took massive risks to get that pole position.

We need a miracle to be on pole this weekend.

[darkpino]

It is on the team to be ready even if the driver doesn't call to pit... Ferrari should have been ready for one of their drivers to want inters given we knew this shower was happening for a long time prior to its arrival.. didn't come out of nowhere.

Leclerc made the right call, unlike many other drivers so credit for that despite not a great Sunday overall

The car is in complete disarray. The team is in disarray. Like organic, I am baffled how with rain falling during the formation lap, and more rain on the radar, the pit wall isn't at least preparing to bring a car in. Restart and a full lap and they are all still sitting around.

I've looked back some onboards yesterday from Leclerc (and others) and can't help but think that Leclerc is at least part of the problem. He is massively talented but can't maximise, kind of a all or nothing driver at this moment. At the same time it seems to me that he's really trying to over perform. Example is the first pit stop where he called boxing on pit entrance; hence his team wasn't ready for it as he made the call way too late. Perez for example already made the call to box in turn 13.

In my opinion the bottom line is that Leclerc while having loads of talent seems like being too young or inexperienced to build a team around. He doesn't have the experience to take with him from other teams to help SF nor does SF have the ability to hire experience from other top teams to help them forward. To say it's only the car: I think Sainz showed (and shows week in week out) that the car may not be a championship contender but in the mix to be either 2nd or 3rd in the constructor championship, it's just Leclerc who keeps throwing away money and points

It has nothing to do with experience. Some drivers are more aggressive than others. Some aren't driving around just playing it "safe". The ones who are are not going to get on the podium, and definitely not going to win any races without an immense amount of luck. I absolutely prefer Leclerc's driving style to others on the track. I don't know any other Ferrari fans who think otherwise. If not then just let Charles go and bring in another safe driver to run alongside of Sainz. We wont have any "costly" accidents or mistakes, but we also wont score higher than 5th in any race. I prefer the moments of excitement.

The fact is that the car is not a very difficult car to drive. It's easy to say a driver is making mistakes or comes across as inexperienced, or sloppy when you compare with drivers in other cars. But the RB is very stable. The Aston is stable. The Mercedes is stable (slow... but stable). You can't compare.

In my opinion the aggressive way of driving doesn't win championships unless you have a car which lacks a bit of performance but is really close like RBR in 2021

[Vanja #66]

Surreal to have any serious discussion on Leclerc's capabilities after his performances in 2022 while the car was still competitive and, more importantly - while there was an actual pressure of Championship fight... Even later, when the car wasn't competitive, he still finished better than Perez in a dominant RB18

[trinidefender]

Surreal to have any serious discussion on Leclerc's capabilities after his performances in 2022 while the car was still competitive and, more importantly - while there was an actual pressure of Championship fight... Even later, when the car wasn't competitive, he still finished better than Perez in a dominant RB18

I don't think anyone is really doubting Leclerc's abilities, I think they are just saying he makes too many mistakes. It's almost like if the car is to his liking he is blisteringly quick but then if you introduce any uncertainty he then starts to make mistakes. Rain also doesn't seem to be his strong suit

I could well be wrong here but I get the impression that he has issues with risk management. When and where it's the best time to accept risk and when he should back off and be a bit more careful.

Thoughts?

[Xyz22]

Surreal to have any serious discussion on Leclerc's capabilities after his performances in 2022 while the car was still competitive and, more importantly - while there was an actual pressure of Championship fight... Even later, when the car wasn't competitive, he still finished better than Perez in a dominant RB18

I don't think anyone is really doubting Leclerc's abilities, I think they are just saying he makes too many mistakes. It's almost like if the car is to his liking he is blisteringly quick but then if you introduce any uncertainty he then starts to make mistakes. Rain also doesn't seem to be his strong suit

I could well be wrong here but I get the impression that he has issues with risk management. When and where it's the best time to accept risk and when he should back off and be a bit more careful.

Thoughts?

Agree on this. In fact i said that for a midfield team Leclerc is not a good fit. He often doesn't care about car limitations, which can produce really great results like Baku and Austria but also disasters like Miami and Zandvoort.

A car capable of fighting for the win usually has good handling characteristics and doesn't require a driver to push to the limit constantly, which reduces the risk of crashing/making mistakes.

[Vinlarr89]

We need to put into perspective here. If the car is competitive leclerc takes less risk. Fact. He’s always going to take risks in quali, and if max didn’t have such a stable beast under his he would be too… Look this years gone now… the car is poor and we all know that. I just hope we’re not going to be too late to the party to get close to competing next year. I’m convinced in a good car leclerc can really go toe to toe

[Vanja #66]

I don't think anyone is really doubting Leclerc's abilities, I think they are just saying he makes too many mistakes. It's almost like if the car is to his liking he is blisteringly quick but then if you introduce any uncertainty he then starts to make mistakes. Rain also doesn't seem to be his strong suit

I could well be wrong here but I get the impression that he has issues with risk management. When and where it's the best time to accept risk and when he should back off and be a bit more careful.

Thoughts?

Agree on this. In fact i said that for a midfield team Leclerc is not a good fit. He often doesn't care about car limitations, which can produce really great results like Baku and Austria but also disasters like Miami and Zandvoort.

A car capable of fighting for the win usually has good handling characteristics and doesn't require a driver to push to the limit constantly, which reduces the risk of crashing/making mistakes.

As Vinlarr said, perspective is needed. Even before the weekend, Vasseur said they aim to maximise the Q session to get a better position for easier defense. Leclerc himself said, and I think I've also seen some telemetry that confirms it, he didn't go any faster than previous lap when he understeered. He also said Miami was a big risk and he pushed too far, which is why he was mad. This Q3 crash was just a sudden, unexpected understeer on a drying track and nothing you can do about it 10/10 times.

He takes more risks in Q to get a better position since there are no points for Q, while knowing the race will be tougher and they have top speed advantage over their direct competitors. Did he make mistakes in races and lost points in races this season?

[Xyz22]

I don't think anyone is really doubting Leclerc's abilities, I think they are just saying he makes too many mistakes. It's almost like if the car is to his liking he is blisteringly quick but then if you introduce any uncertainty he then starts to make mistakes. Rain also doesn't seem to be his strong suit

I could well be wrong here but I get the impression that he has issues with risk management. When and where it's the best time to accept risk and when he should back off and be a bit more careful.

Thoughts?

Agree on this. In fact i said that for a midfield team Leclerc is not a good fit. He often doesn't care about car limitations, which can produce really great results like Baku and Austria but also disasters like Miami and Zandvoort.

A car capable of fighting for the win usually has good handling characteristics and doesn't require a driver to push to the limit constantly, which reduces the risk of crashing/making mistakes.

As Vinlarr said, perspective is needed. Even before the weekend, Vasseur said they aim to maximise the Q session to get a better position for easier defense. Leclerc himself said, and I think I've also seen some telemetry that confirms it, he didn't go any faster than previous lap when he understeered. He also said Miami was a big risk and he pushed too far, which is why he was mad. This Q3 crash was just a sudden, unexpected understeer on a drying track and nothing you can do about it 10/10 times.

He takes more risks in Q to get a better position since there are no points for Q, while knowing the race will be tougher and they have top speed advantage over their direct competitors. Did he make mistakes in races and lost points in races this season?

He was quicker than the previous lap, but not by much. He clearly didn't expect such a huge amount of understeer which is one of the many issues of this car.

He had 2 racing incident, in Australia and in Zandvoort. A lot of bad luck because they were really small touches with really bad consequences (DNFs).

[KimiRai]

[Xyz22]

So Leclerc said that the biggest issue with the car is how unpredictable it is in tracks where a high dwf configuration is required.
Moreover he said that in order to reduce the unpredictability of the car he has opted for a balance with more understeer, which of course doesn't enjoy too much.