F1 News: Ferrari Reveals Red Bull-esque Sidepods For Spanish Grand Prix In Big Transformation
The Barcelona pit lane is witnessing an F1 design transformation. Ferrari is switching gears from its 'baby bath' sidepod design to a new concept influenced by Red Bull's downwash design. This change represents a critical strategic shift for Ferrari in the fiercely competitive world of Formula 1 racing.
Ferrari's season so far in 2023 has been a rollercoaster ride, with the SF-23 showing promise in qualifying stages at the hands of its lead driver Charles Leclerc, but struggling during the Sunday races. The car has been described as "lacking consistency", leading to only one podium finish in six races - a third-place achievement by the Monegasque at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Currently, Ferrari is a far-off fourth in the Constructors' Championship behind Mercedes.
Reconsidering their design approach, Ferrari decided to follow Mercedes' footsteps and change their sidepod concept, opting for Red Bull-style sidepods. This redesigned body will make its debut in the Spanish Grand Prix, with Ferrari moving away from the beautiful but maybe not fast 'baby bath' design that it has been using since the ground effect aerodynamics era kicked off in 2022. Instead, it's embracing the successful downwash philosophy associated with the rapid RB19.
The car's revamp doesn't stop there. Other modifications include a new engine cover and tweaked mirror housing.
Team boss Fred Vasseur voiced his team's dissatisfaction with their current standings to Motorsport.com. He shared:
“We are pushing like hell at the factory to bring an update as quick as possible because we are not happy," he said. “I think the results we have today are not the target and we want to do better. We will continue to develop in any case.
“The target is not in terms of position.
“The target and the important mindset that I have to push for is to do a better job tomorrow than today.
“As soon as we are able to analyse that we have weakness on the car, on the approach of the team or in the garage, we put all of our effort to fix it."
Vasseur was careful to manage expectations regarding the new sidepods' impact, emphasizing:
"It would be a mistake to imagine the lack of performance is coming from just the [aero]. Performance is coming from everywhere: the capacity to produce parts quickly, the strategy, the pit wall, the mechanics, the pitstops, the reliability. Every single employee of the company is a performance contributor.”
Carlos Sainz, in the meantime, lauded Ferrari's efforts to bring these updates to the track.
He stated, “You cannot imagine the effort Maranello has done in trying to bring this package forward. It was supposed to come a lot later in the season and the whole factory was just flat-out these last few months, because of the situation, to try and bring it earlier.”