Ferrari arrives in Miami with new features on the SF-23

In Baku, Ferrari was able to show some of its form from last season. Charles Leclerc managed to take pole position for both the sprint race and the Grand Prix, and also finished on the podium in both races. This shows that Ferrari has slightly improved since the beginning of the season, but their 21-second gap indicates that the Scuderia still has a long way to go in race configuration. The team hopes to continue on this path in the upcoming races.

Speaking to Autosport, Vasseur confirmed that Ferrari will bring improvements during the upcoming races. And so, the comeback begins for the Scuderia in Miami. Other improvements will be gradually implemented in the following weeks, with a focus on weekends with three free practice sessions. This includes sprint weekends or Monaco. Vasseur specifically mentions Monaco as an example of this last category, where minor improvements will be made.

“We will start making improvements to the car from Miami and for the next two weekends, and we will see how the car reacts,” commented Frédéric Vasseur. “Bringing an update is one thing, but being able to extract the full potential of this update is another.”

Vasseur did not want to say whether Ferrari’s deficit was purely mechanical or aerodynamic. And even though he believes that Ferrari “shouldn’t worry too much” about their form, he thinks that the car’s more consistent behavior is already a step forward.

“Red Bull remains the best, let’s not kid ourselves.”

I think that up until now, what is evident is that we have difficulty being consistent. I think that the car was much more consistent this weekend and that we are heading in the right direction.

One of Maranello’s priorities is to try to understand how Red Bull managed to gain a huge advantage with their DRS (Drag Reduction System) device. Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez easily overtook the Ferraris on the straights, while others struggled to overtake in the shortened DRS zone in Baku.

It is clear that one of Red Bull’s strengths today is the DRS effect. We must understand what they are doing, and I think we are on the right track.

We have partially closed the gap compared to last year, as it was already the case last year, but we still have a large margin for improvement.