Ferrari has struggled from the beginning of 2023 with extreme tyre put on paired and an absence of consistency in its race tempo.
That meant the Scuderia has struggled to transform its often-impressive qualifying velocity into sustained race tempo over a full grand prix distance.
The workforce has been restricted to only three podiums, all by Charles Leclerc, who took two of his high three berths after falling again from pole.
It kicks off the second half of the season in fourth, 5 factors behind Aston Martin and 56 behind Mercedes.
Based on team-mate Sainz, who has but to copy his season greatest results of fourth from the opening race at Bahrain, Ferrari now has a grasp of its automobile’s core issues.
However understanding its wild inconsistencies is now a high precedence, so the problem would not carry over to the 2024 challenge.
He conceded that the SF-23 continues to be a “very peaky automobile” which has made it very complicated for the workforce to foretell which circuits it should carry out properly at.
“The core downside of the automobile, we do perceive what it’s,” Sainz stated, forward of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
“For the reason that first developments of the yr we are attempting to get it higher. And the entire growth programme has been focusing in bettering that essential weak spot that now we have.
“I feel it is no secret now that this yr we have misplaced like some consistency from the automobile.
“It is very tough to foretell which circuits we’ll be fast on and which we’re not going to be fast.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Photograph by: Ferrari
“There’s the wind sensitivity, there’s the observe temperature sensitivity that now we have, which in the intervening time makes it a really peaky automobile.
“The perfect instance was the distinction between Hungary and Spa. We anticipated Hungary to be a great weekend, we anticipated Spa to be a weaker one.
“And it was really the alternative, which exhibits that there’s possibly one thing intrinsic that we do not totally perceive and we can’t predict very properly.”
Sainz defined that Ferrari is now utilizing each Friday follow session over the remaining 10 races of this yr to experiment with its set-up to seek out extra solutions that may assist the 2024 automobile.
“We have achieved 12 [races], we nonetheless have 10 to completely get to grasp every part,” the Spaniard added.
“This unpredictability, this lack of information is strictly what we’re specializing in now to attempt to piece collectively every part. And that is the place our focus goes to be this weekend and clearly, within the second half of the season.
“Each weekend in F1, FP2 we are attempting one thing totally different to attempt to perceive these laws and attempt to see the place we could also be missing in comparison with clearly the reference Pink Bull and the way we are able to make the 2024 automobile faster.
“I feel we’re doing a reasonably good job of attempting fully various things and having totally different theories that we’re placing collectively for subsequent yr’s automobile. Hopefully subsequent yr it pays off.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23
Photograph by: Erik Junius
Group-mate Leclerc identified that Ferrari is just not the one workforce to undergo dramatic kind swings this yr, that means that if the Italian squad can get on high of its inconsistencies, its outcomes may enhance dramatically amid a decent battle behind the dominant Pink Bulls.
“For now, the short-term objective is to enhance our consistency as a result of should you look the primary a part of the season, McLaren, Mercedes, Aston Martin and ourselves, then everyone is admittedly inconsistent,” he stated.
“One race, it is McLaren that’s going to be on high by fairly a bit and the opposite race goes to be us or Mercedes that’s going to be on high.
“If we handle to seek out what now we have within the automobile that offers us the consistency to all the time be on high of our recreation, it will give us a giant higher hand in comparison with the opposite groups, in order that’s the place we have to give attention to in the intervening time.”
Further reporting by Matt Kew