Ferrari planning ‘small adjustments’ to F1 strategy processes for 2023

After looking like it would seriously challenge Red Bull and Max Verstappen for the championship in the early part of last year, Ferrari’s season unravelled due to a mixture of poor reliability and some strategy miscues.

Some of the strategy calls – notably at Silverstone, where Ferrari kept Charles Leclerc out on used tyres for the safety car restart, and in Hungary, where Leclerc was given hard tyres while leading before slumping down the order – led to scrutiny of Ferrari’s approach on the pitwall.

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New team principal Frederic Vasseur warned against wholesale changes after taking charge at Maranello, suggesting in January there were deeper factors that contributed to the slip-ups rather than pointing the finger at individuals.

But following the launch of Ferrari’s new SF-23 F1 car at Fiorano on Tuesday, Vasseur said there would be some tweaks to its strategy approach for the first race in Bahrain next month.

“Yes, we'll make some small adjustments,” said Vasseur.

“But what I said last time is that you see just the visible part of the iceberg. And when you spoke about strategy, you were speaking about strategist, and strategy.

“It's not just one person pushing on a button. It's software, it's the team at the factory, and it's also process on the pit wall. And so it's a complete picture rather than about one person.”

Vasseur stresses that systems need to change before individuals are blamed

Photo by: Ferrari

Ferrari started 2022 strongly with a 1-2 finish in Bahrain, but would score just three more wins as Verstappen and Red Bull swept to both titles.

The team failed to win any races after the Austrian Grand Prix in July, struggling to keep up with Red Bull’s pace on a Sunday despite often topping qualifying.

Ferrari racing director Laurent Mekies explained there had been a “very, very extensive review of 2022” at the team, looking at “where we have been lacking, because there is no need to hide”.

He added: “We have learned some of the things last year in the hard way, so of course we had this 360-degree review.

“What it means for us is that we are concentrating on giving our people the best platform to express themselves.

“We have been reviewing our processes, we have been reviewing the way we are working, in order to ensure each individual can express themselves at best individually and of course collectively.”