Frederic Vasseur notes the flex rear wing seen on Charles Leclerc’s car in FP1 of F1 Bahrain GP was a test item which will be seen later in the year.
The whole of the pre-season test in Bahrain, Ferrari were very open about running an extreme programme testing various set-ups and parts to get a clear idea about the SF-23 and the parts which works for them and the ones which don’t.
It was mostly data corelation work which seemingly continued on Friday of the F1 Bahrain GP weekend too. Both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz ran a programme where they were testing items along with different set-ups to understand the tyre performance/degradation.
The Spaniard even indicated that his spin cost him where the set-up they were testing didn’t go as per the plan. That affected his FP2 running too, while Leclerc also reported of balance troubles where he was spotted running a different rear wing.
But they removed it after stability issues where it was flexing too much for the team’s liking. While they are not to run it anymore in Bahrain, Vasseur noted that it will be back soon after they have studied the data with a fix in place to stabilise it.
“It was a test item that we are not able to do last week during T1,” revealed Vasseur. “We tried to do it this morning but you as you saw it was not very co-operative so we won’t run the wing during the weekend. But it will be back soon.”
It wasn’t the start that Ferrari had hoped for where they were seemingly behind Red Bull and even Aston Martin on pace. In fact, Lewis Hamilton reckoned that both Mercedes and Ferrari are in a similar spot behind the above two F1 outfits.
Vasseur agrees that Red Bull is a step ahead, but how last year panned out when Ferrari were on the front foot at start the season before exploding, the Frenchman is playing the long game. “So far, for sure that Red Bull is a step ahead,” he said.
“But the season is 23 races and we didn’t do the first one, we did just Friday, and it’s a long way to go. I think last year for the team was a good lesson, the championship is not over after Race 1, and we know that it will be a long way. And we have to continue to develop the car over the season.”
Here’s how F1 Bahrain GP FP1 panned out
Here’s how F1 Bahrain GP FP2 panned out
Here’s Carlos Sainz on a not so good Friday for him
Here’s Charles Leclerc on various on F1 podcast
Here’s Frederic Vasseur on pitwall changes
Here’s Ferrari on car changes for 2023
Here’s Frederic Vasseur on Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz