Ferrari has been left frustrated by their performance thus far in the 2023 Formula 1 season and Miami was no different.
Carlos Sainz finished the Miami Grand Prix in fifth having incurred a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane while Charles Leclerc struggled to seventh after a nightmare weekend which saw him crash in practice and qualifying.
Newly appointed Team Principal Frederic Vasseur admitted that so far, the team is struggling with consistency and a lack of pace.
“We are far too much inconsistent from one car to the other, and from one lap to the other, we have to understand why,” Vasseur said after the grand prix.
“We really need to focus our attention on this because it’s key for us, and we are aware we have to do a step.
“It’s not just the race [we are struggling with]. At some stages of the race we were okay-ish… I think the pace was decent but we were not able to put everything together.”
Vasseur’s Miami post-mortem indicates that his drivers have been struggling with different issues.
“The first stint went pretty well for Carlos, he lost five seconds in 18 laps. I think this stage of the race was okay for us.
“For Charles it was the opposite. He was in a good shape at some stages of the second stint with the hard [tyre], and he was struggling much more in the first part of the race.”
According to Vasseur, the problem wasn’t just tyre related as the performance of one car when switching tyres didn’t correlate to the other.
“With Charles we were performing better on the Hards, and with Carlos we’re much more performing on the Medium,” he continued.
“Even with the same tyres, from one lap to the other one we are a bit inconsistent.”
It isn’t just Vasseur who is aware of the issues Ferrari currently face, with Leclerc and Sainz both also citing difficulties with the SF23.
Speaking after the Miami Grand Prix, Leclerc stated that he and Sainz are dealing with a car that is “so incredibly difficult to be on the limit”.
“On my side, I don’t know what was going on but in the high-speed [corners] I had the car moving a lot. Not from the rear, but just the overall platform of the car was touching like crazy.
“As I was saying with Carlos, it was just a very inconsistent car today so I’m just trying to get the car to the end.
“I don’t think he [Carlos] was complaining about it that much, speaking to him. But for me it was quite crazy, so I really don’t know what was going on.”
Leclerc placed added pressure on Ferrari to make improvements with its upcoming upgrade programme for the SF23.
“We’re very far away now. Like very, very far away.
“I really struggle to find any explanations why we are so far away in the race, and so close in qualifying. This is something we really need to work on.”
