Vasseur: A new car with the cost cap very difficult

Ferrari started the new era of ground effect Formula 1 cars in 2022 with great momentum as their F1-75 with its distinctive sidepod design proved to be rapid out of the box, giving the team an early season advantage before reliability, driver errors, strategy blunders, in addition to poor race pace caused by excessive tyre degradation meant the Scuderia had to settle for second best behind Red Bull.

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz is calling for major changes on the his team's 2023 car the SF-23 if they hope to close the gap to frontrunners Red Bull.

"At the moment the Red Bull is superior everywhere," Sainz said, quoted by Motorsport.com. "It's superior in quali, in races, in straightline speed.

"They are superior in medium/low-speed corners, they are superior with tyre management, superior over the kerbs and bumps. It just shows that we clearly need to change something.

"We need to go and check something very different from where we are now. I think the extremely good performance at the start of last season made us, I think, keep pushing with this concept, with this project of car.

"But I think we realise now that Red Bull has a clear advantage everywhere and that we need to start looking to our right and to our left," the Spaniard concluded.

However, Sainz's boss, Fred Vasseur does not agree, and when asked if there are any plans to change to aero concept of the SF-23; he told Motorsport.com: "No, I don't think so.

"We have a flow of updates that will come, not for Baku, because we have the aero package for the level of downforce, and with the sprint race it is not the easiest one, but for Miami, Imola, not Monaco, and Barcelona. At each race, we'll have an update on the car," he revealed.

"We are sticking to the plan. We have made some adjustments in terms of balance and behaviour, and it was much better in Melbourne, and we'll continue in this direction.

"It's not a B-car if that is what you want to say. We won't come with something completely different. We will continue to update this one and we'll try to update massively," the Frenchman maintained.

Vasseur said that the current F1 cost cap doesn't allow for major changes in car development, not to mention that Ferrari still have faith in their current car concept.

"To do a new project during the season, to start from scratch, to do a new car with the cost cap, but also considering the restriction of the wind tunnel time, I don't want to say that it's impossible, but it's very difficult," Vasseur said.

"Also, on our side, we have the feeling, and I hope that we are right, that we are going in the right direction, that we have still tons of room for improvement on the car.

"It means that as long as we are still able to develop the car to get [downforce] points, and the aero to get a better balance, to get a better stability and so, I think it makes sense to push in this direction.

"You have always a plan of development before the season, and then you have to react due to the circumstances, due to the competitiveness of the car, and due to the behaviour of the car. We took action very quickly," he added.

"We brought some good updates in Melbourne, and we will continue. What we can do is to push to try to speed up this process, perhaps to take a direction a bit different in terms of balance and so on.

"But we can't change massively the plan after three races and say, 'okay, we have to go in another direction'," the Ferrari boss insisted.

However, for 2024, Vasseur wouldn't rule out a new car concept, provided it makes sense under the cost cap; he said: "The question is [really] about the cost cap: if you want to do a carryover or not.

"And which parts do you want to carry over between one season to the other one – like the big components of the gearbox or monocoque? It's a question that we'll have to manage with the cost cap.

"With the strategy of development, I think we have good updates. And we'll see later on into the season if we want to do a continuous improvement of this one, and we have room for improvement, or if we have to change more massively the direction. We will see that much later," the 54-year-old concluded.