Sainz hints at “new direction” for Ferrari with Spanish GP upgrades

Following a lacklustre start to the 2023 season which has left Ferrari fourth in the constructors’ championship standings, the Italian outfit have brought an upgrade package for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona. 

It is hoped the updates will make the SF-23 more competitive in the races and help Ferrari turn around their disappointing start to the campaign. 

“It’s a bit of a new direction, into what we believe should be the right path to develop this car,” Sainz said on Thursday. 

“Making it a better car, a more drive-able car, more consistent, better in the race - that is what we know is our main weakness. 

“You’ve seen it hasn’t been an easy start to the season and we’ve been struggling. But it is true that with this first step into this direction, we try and correct the deficiencies we have.

“We also know that this upgrade is not going to change our life from one race to another. It’s the first step of many steps to come still.”

Sainz revealed the upgrade has been fast-tracked after originally being planned for introduction much later in the season. 

“You cannot imagine the effort Maranello has done in trying to bring this package forward,” the Spaniard said. 

“It was supposed to come a lot later in the season and the whole factory was just flat-out these last few months, because of the situation, to try and bring it earlier.”

Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc downplayed suggestions the revised SF-23 would dramatically enhance Ferrari’s fortunes. 

"We are not expecting any big miracles, to be honest,” Leclerc said. 

"From now on, we want to try and bring some small upgrades every race. This one should go in the right direction. But I don't think it will be a massive change.”

The Monegasque added: "At the moment, the thing is that we have extremely peaky car that in qualifying, on the one lap pace with new tyres, and with the wind that we know exactly how we need to drive the car, it's okay. 

"But as soon as we go a little bit out of those conditions, the car loses so much downforce overall. So, we have been working a lot on that with this new car.

"This should help us to not gain that much performance, but to at least be a bit more consistent throughout the weekend. That hopefully will help us to have a better result on the Sunday."