Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur admits SF-23 is ‘very difficult to understand’ after Spanish GP struggles

Ferrari dropped more points to Mercedes and Aston Martin in the constructors’ championship after Carlos Sainz finished fifth and Charles Leclerc was 11th at the Spanish Grand Prix; watch the Canadian GP from June 16-18 with all sessions live on Sky Sports F1

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has admitted their 2023 car is “very difficult to understand” after a tough Sunday at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz started on the front row but dropped to fifth behind Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Sergio Perez.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc failed to get out of Q1 in Qualifying but failed to finish in the points as he struggled with tyre wear and car inconstancies.

Leclerc told Sky Sports F1 he “didn’t understand” what Ferrari were doing wrong as the car handled differently throughout the race, even when using the same tyre compound.

Ferrari brought a significant upgrade package to Barcelona, including new sidepods, but didn’t appear to go forward.

“You can’t compare Miami and Barcelona in terms of layout, tarmac and energy on the tyres, but I would say that the global picture is the same,” said Vasseur.

“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.”

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Charles Leclerc can’t understand what is wrong with his Ferrari after finishing P11 at the Spanish Grand Prix

He continued: “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.

“It’s true that in qualifying, you are in free air and in the race you are not. I think Charles struggled a lot in the first stint as he was a lot closer to the car in front of him.

“The main issue for us is not the potential on the lap on [high-speed] corners, the main issue is the inconsistency.

“On Charles’ car for example, between the first and third stints with the same compound, one the balance was out of place, and the last one was OK, and with Carlos, he did a decent first stint, and in the middle, he lost 15 or 20 seconds.”

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Red Bull chief technology officer Adrian Newey admitted he gave serious consideration to joining Team Ferrari twice in the 1990s

Vasseur: Ferrari can fight Mercedes

Mercedes’ updates did work as their new front suspension and sidepod design saw them take a double podium at the Spanish GP, with Hamilton in second and Russell in third.

Vasseur thinks Ferrari are keeping up with Mercedes in the development race and can beat them once their consistency is solved.

“I think as soon as we will unlock the situation with consistency we can imagine to fight with them [Mercedes] all over the race,” he said.

“With Red Bull, it’s another story, especially with Verstappen. He is still much faster than us in qualy, much faster in the race.”

Charles Leclerc finished has gone through a tough run of results in Miami, Monaco and Spain

Are Ferrari going in the wrong direction?

Ferrari are fourth in the constructors’ championship at 32 points adrift of Aston Martin and 52 points behind Mercedes

Damon Hill and Rachel Brookes told the latest Sky Sports F1 Podcast that Ferrari are very difficult to predict.

“It’s a funny season in a way because we have seen quite a lot of disparity between apparent form on one circuit and the same form, or expectations, on another circuit,” said Hill. “Everyone is scratching their heads apart from Red Bull, who are delivering on every track.

Ferrari are fourth in the constructors’ championship ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix

“Then what can you say about Ferrari? When one is up, the other is down. It’s like they are running with one leg all the time. So going forward, you have got the development curve and cost-cap restrictions to think about.”

Brookes added: “My worry is Ferrari are going in the opposite direction. They changed their car and we saw a very different Ferrari in Spain, they are now trying to chase that route as well.

F1 returns in Canada from June 16-18 with all sessions live on Sky Sports F1, including race coverage from 5.30pm on Sunday June 18