After the sensational elimination in Q1 of qualifying for the 2023 Formula 1 Spanish GP, Charles Leclerc reported a problem with his SF-23, raising suspicions about Ferrari: the investigation by the Prancing Horse technicians into the car has not yet solved the mystery.
The qualifying for the Spanish GP of Formula 1 2023 they reserved big surprises for Ferrari who on the one hand can rejoice in the front row conquered, behind the unattainable Max Verstappen, by the landlord Carlos Sainz while on the other he has to deal with the sensational elimination in Q1 of Charles Leclerc who will have to start from the back of the starting grid in Sunday’s race at the Barcelona circuit. A diametrically opposite performance for the two pilots who questioned the goodness of the substantial package of updates to the SF-23 (new bodywork with leaner and more sloping bellies than the previous ones and a new underbody) introduced by the Cavallino precisely this Spanish weekend and to which the hopes of the fans of the Maranello team are clinging for the continuation of a still very long season.
This because Carlos Sainzwhich has never had its strong point in flying laps, thanks to the single-seater revolutionized by the innovations in Barcelona he achieved an excellent second place (behind Max Verstappen’s unreachable Red Bull) even trimming a second to his teammatewhich instead has always been one qualifications specialist, in Q1. And this is not because Leclerc had bad luck, made some mistakes or damaged the car, but simply because his Ferrari just didn’t go. The bewilderment shown by the Monegasque at the time of his official elimination in Q1 perfectly explains how no one, after what we saw in free practice, expected this flop of SF-23 number #16.
And after qualifying it was Charles Leclerc himself who raised several suspicions about the single-seater made available by Ferrari to race on the Barcelona circuit. Indeed, according to the 25-year-old from Monte Carlo his car had some technical problemswith some broken pieces (as team principal Frederic Vasseur also speculated): “I’d be really, really surprised if the car turns out okay. There was something wrongthis morning in the same conditions we were fine. There was something on the right rear, I was struggling to make left turns” in fact, the Monegasque driver said to the microphones of Sky Sport after his elimination in Q1 of the Spanish GP qualifying.
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According to Charles Leclerc, therefore, a malfunction of the right rear wheel would have been the cause of his bad performance in qualifying: “I’d be really surprised if that wasn’t the case, the feeling was different from what we’ve had since the beginning of the year. I nearly put it to the wall while going 60km/h” in fact continued the standard bearer of the Cavallino. Closing, however, the Monegasque invited the Ferrari technicians to investigate the reason for this flop, also raising some suspicions: “We need to check why I’m not getting somethingindeed concluded an embittered Leclerc.
The invitation was immediately accepted by the Maranello team which immediately put several technicians to analyze SF-23 number #16: the engineers first concentrated on the right rear and then on the underbody so much that they removed the bottom from the car but they have not yet identified the problem reported by the pilot. In fact, in the evening from Ferrari they let it be known that “due to the regulation of the Parc Fermé, as far as Charles’ car is concerned, they will not be able to carry out further checks tonight” is that “information about it will arrive on Sunday morning“, clear signal that the reason why Leclerc’s car didn’t really work in qualifying for the Spanish GP has not yet been discoveredunlike the one led by teammate Carlos Sainz.