ferrari The season did not start well in Bahrain: Charles Leclerc retired due to engine failure and missed the podium after being easily overtaken by Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin. The Saudi Arabian GP also starts ‘uphill’ for those coming from Maranello as Leclerc will be penalized with ten positions on the grid on Sunday after turning on the third electronic control unit in the SF-23.

Fréderic Vasseur, who took over from Scuderia head Mattia Binotto this year, begins to feel the pressure of the position and is already subject to harsh criticism, especially in Italy. However, despite everything, the French they will be able to correct their course and catch the Red Bulls. “We had some problems with balance over the weekend in Bahrain, which means we have a lot of room to improve. It is to continue to focus on the current situation to try to make the most of what we have today”.

“We will improve the condition and competitiveness of our package. Bahrain is not always representativeSecondly, we are still in the early development phase of the car, and that means we only have three days of testing and one race, so we need to understand better if we want to bring updates.” Complaining about excessive deterioration at the Sakhir circuit and reminding him that it was “almost as bad as last year”.

“Part of the explanation comes from Bahrain because asphalt is too aggressive, and this increases the wear parameters. It’s also true that if you have a lack of rhythm, you have to push harder to stay maxed out, thus damaging everything more. That means I will focus more on pure performance and potential than anything else,” Vasseur said.

“We cannot be satisfied with the current situation and I want to take a step. Saudi Arabian characteristics are very different from Sakhir’s in terms of handling, roughness, road layout,” says the French engineer, more critically. , piece, so that’s a different story. We will be a little more in tune with what we have and also bring some updates to Jeddah.. There is a long list that needs improvement and I hope we get a response in Saudi Arabia.”

most powerful engine

From the opponent’s point of view, Red Bull believes Ferrari should fix the deterioration issues, but they have the best engine on the grid. “We don’t have exact figures for the power units, but based on various comparisons and information, we generally assume that Ferrari is the most powerful engine. Honda comes next,” said Helmut Marko. And Mercedes is more or less on the same level. Renault is behind,” he said.

The Red Bull advisor thinks that Ferrari has taken a step forward in speed, but worsened on the decline:Top speed significantly improvedbut the most important thing – tire wear – never improved. And I can almost say it’s gotten worse compared to us.”