The factor that could be decisive for Ferrari to dethrone Red Bull

ferrari is approaching the 2023 season with the clear objective of finally ending their title drought, which has been in place since 2007.

To do so, first of all, they have changed team principal. Mattia Binotto has left and in his place, Fred Vasseur has arrived. He will work closely with the driving pair of Carlos Sainz other Charles Leclerc. He has been doing well at Alfa Romeo and there are high hopes at the Scuderia that he will be the leader to take them back to the top of F1.

Then there are a number of areas where they need to improve in order to break Red Bull’s overwhelming dominance. It is essential that their engine does not suffer so many reliability problems. That’s critical. As is their need to be more assured in their race strategies. And, of course, they need reassurance within the team.

The pressure within Ferrari is brutal and that sometimes generates a nervousness that translates into blunders. And if they also find the key to develop the car during the season, then they will find that it is possible to make the dream of the fans come true.

Hope from the simulations

Not much is known about the new car, but from what has been seen on the test bench, the Ferrari of 2023 invites optimism. In particular, it looks like they have made a considerable gain in the power unit. It has even been said that it would add 30 more horsepower, but other more cautious reports have halved that figure.

If it’s 15 bhp, as the Italian edition of Motorsport.com claims, it’s also a clear improvement. This is especially exciting considering that the Scuderia was already able to prove last year that it was at the same level or even above the Red Bull and Mercedes engines.

Leclerc y Sainz intercambian impressions.FERRARI

More power and more reliability

The problem was that the engine of the Maranello team failed several times and, for this reason, the Ferrari engineers were forced to reduce its power. Be that as it may, the key factor in dethroning Red Bull may be to have a more powerful (and more reliable) engine to match the aerodynamic strength of the car that Max Verstappen drives so well.

Improving on Sundays

Ferrari was already stronger than Red Bull in qualifying. Leclerc took nine pole positions in 2022 and Sainz added another three. meanwhile, Max Verstappen scored seven and Checo Perez just one.

The scales were clearly tipped on race days. The Dutchman won 15 races and the Mexican won two, which was a total of 17 out of 22 possible victories for the Milton Keynes-based team. Meanwhile, the Scuderia won on four occasions.

Carlos Sainz: I don’t feel we’ve been too far behind Red Bull

Sainz, analytical as always, stressed that they are not far from the Milton Keynes team. The key is to take a step forward in several areas.

“I feel we have had opportunities in 2022. Red Bull have been dominant, but they’ve been dominant without being clearly ahead either on pure qualifying pace or on long runs in the race,” Sainz told RacingNews365.

“I don’t feel that we have been far behind in performance, nor have we been far behind in developing the car. We are working for next year on strategy, race execution and tire management.

“But if you look at performance, we are not far behind. What we need is to add a little more power and downforce and if we do that, we will be at the same level or faster.”