Written by Mar Martínez, Edited by Simran Kanthi
Ferrari presented its new challenger SF-23 for the 2023 season on 14 February. At first glance, we can see, as a whole, very few things have changed in the car's design, but if we go piece by piece, we find many new features compared to the last car designed in Maranello.
Let's start at the front of the car where we can see the first change, it is less pointed than last year's and, above all, anchored to the second element of the front wing.
The car now has different aerodynamics, it is no longer NACA and also the profiles of the wings have been modified. They are now higher.
Moving to the centre of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc's car for 2023, two blowers appear next to the headrests next to the driver, clearly visible in photos taken from behind the car. Presumably, the intake that lets the air pass could have been opened in the Halo area.
Also, the grilles changed. The F1-75 had a fixed but quite an aesthetic row of holes. What they have decided to do this year is to place five fixed vents on the horizontal part of the side pods, distinguishable because they are not painted.
The rest of the openings are located in two panels, one on each side. This suggests that, depending on the temperatures found in different conditions in different circuits, Ferrari could have components with a variable number of grilles. In order to choose the most appropriate race by race, is something that is clearly going to help when adapting to each of the circuits.
Leclerc, like last year, had the opportunity to test the car for the first time and as soon as he got out, these were his words: “I felt good, I did a lot of kilometres in the simulator, but it's special to go out on the track. The first 'feeling' was it was good, the car was good, smooth... so it's a good feeling.”
Then came the turn of Carlos Sainz, who did only three laps, without exceeding 15 kilometres. “Now that everyone has seen it, the car is spectacular. It's even prettier than last year and I think we already have one of the prettiest cars on the grid. Now it's time to make sure that everything is in its proper place. On the installation lap, the brakes are good, feel the engine, the traction... It's time to start to feel the first things about the car but I'm sure that when I or Charles get in, we will push a little more. We're going to do it. As soon as we warm up, we'll push the car, it's in our nature after seeing how it is and having first impressions,” said the Spanish pilot after doing his three test laps.
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