It’s better to be away in the wilderness than to be running a less than competitive car on the ultra competitive F1 grid.
And while that’s not the only problem that Ferrari are facing, it’s not that hard to note that the current problem of the team may perhaps even be that concerning motivation.
Motivation that the Leclerc and Sainz duo needs and rather desperately so in order to get their act together in a season where it’s all been about DNF’s, penalties and awful race pace that makes most Sundays as unbearable as having to write an exam not knowing what to write.
For a team that was displaying breakneck speed flourishing on superior aerodynamics last year, Ferrari are displaying quite the opposite.
Lacking the competitiveness to put together a daunting lap on a Saturday with which to target something in the nearabouts a of a win, if not a win, on Sunday, Ferrari have been found wanting.
That they haven’t, up to this point, scored a single podium with Carlos Sainz’s P4 at Bahrain being the team’s best result so far, these are torrid times for the team in red.
One that the team as also its Tifosi have come to dread.
But what are the hopes of seeing some form of a comeback and if not, then improvement? How soon can it affect the SF 23?
First up, here’s a humble submission.
Every single team in Formula factors in a development plan for the machines depending on what room for change is needed and when.
That being told, the following is what Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur had to say very recently when quizzed about what might resuscitate the Italian team in the days ahead:
“We acted very quickly, already starting to make changes in Melbourne. But we can’t massively change the plan, there are budget constraints.
“But we have managed to speed up the process, some changes originally planned for Barcelona will arrive at Imola.”
With that being said, it is important to note that not further than round six, which is bound to take place at Imola (in Italy), is when Ferrari will be ready to dish out the fresh upgrades for the current SF 23.
Most teams, as it stands, roll out their respective upgrades by the time the F1 circus steps foot into Europe.
And by that calculation that three races are done and dusted with another three to go before Imola arrives with hopefully something for Ferrari to savour, it could be argued that good times – or so it seems- are apparently arriving earlier than usual for the Italian giant,
And though it’s a long shot from where we are at this juncture, the fan who sees everything red in F1, just won’t stop thinking as to whether the upgrades will make the twin SF 23’s fly!
For what can’t be undermined is that the present Red Bull is almost as if it’s got wings. But can those be clipped- if at all- Ferrari get the upgrades needed to do so?