Ferrari to extend SF-23 development but done with big upgrades

Ferrari will continue to bring updates to its SF-23 car in the back half of the 2023 season, but the Italian outfit is unlikely to introduce any more significant changes.

With just four podiums achieved year-to-date, Ferrari's 2023 campaign hasn't fulfilled the team's sporting expectations.

Red Bull's unwavering hegemony at the head of the field has left all its rivals in its dust, but the Scuderia has also fallen short in terms of performance due to the engrained inefficiencies of its car, a machine that has proven fast over a single lap but inconsistent and peaky in race trim.

Poor balance and subsequent tyre degradation have been at the forefront of Ferrari's concerns, but progress has been made lately thanks to the development work conducted by the team's engineers at Maranello.

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But as the latter switch their focus to next year's contender, development is inevitably starting to wing down as Ferrari performance engineer Jock Clear explained last weekend in Monza.

"I think there will be little bits here and there, I don't think there's going to be anything big," Clear explained. "I think we'll have to see. That decision, I don't think, is absolutely made.

"We’re keen to make sure that we go into next year with confidence. And that always means you want to finish the year strongly.

"So if there's things that we think will carry over to next year and will be relevant, it would be sensible to get them on the car, and to get some track time on those pieces before February next year."

Ferrari will be seeking to turn around its fortunes in 2024 and take the challenge to Red Bull which is expected to extend its winning ways into next year.

However, catching up with the Milton Keynes-based outfit over the winter will require a big engineering effort by Ferrari.

Asked if Aston Martin's significant leap forward this year or if McLaren's impressive in-season advances were cause for hope at Ferrari, team boss Fred Vasseur insisted that his outfit is first and foremost focused on its own affairs.

"Today, the best job is to do the best job that we can," he said. "To try to improve on ourselves, to work on ourselves, to fix the weaknesses that we have on the car.

"Then we will see the outcome – because I am not in the wind tunnel of [Red Bull boss] Christian [Horner], and I don’t know what they are doing.

"It means that we just have to be focused on ourselves and not try always to compare with others – at least during the development [of the car.]

"Next year will be another story."

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