Ferrari decides against B-spec concept change for 2023 F1 car

The Italian squad has endured its worst start to a Formula 1 season since 2009, when it failed to score a single point in the first three races of the campaign.

Its lack of performance compared to pacesetter Red Bull prompted Sainz to suggest at the Australian Grand Prix that it was in need of a direction change.

“At the moment the Red Bull is superior everywhere,” said Sainz. “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.”

But while there have been rumours in recent weeks that Ferrari was ready to embark on radical changes, including a shift of sidepod concept, such a move has been dismissed by team principal Fred Vasseur.

Instead, Vasseur says the team’s plan is for three stages of upgrades over the next few months that he hopes will be enough to make a difference.

Asked by Autosport if a change of concept was coming, Vasseur said: “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.

“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.”

Vasseur explained that the restrictions teams faced with both F1’s cost cap and wind tunnel hours meant that changing concepts at this stage of the season was too tough a task.

“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.

“Also,…