Why Ferrari drivers complained about an inconsistent car: "It's not even corner to corner"

Ferrari had a dismal weekend in Miami, owing to inconsistencies in its 2023 challenger. Both drivers failed to extract maximum performance from their cars, with Carlos Sainz finishing P5 and Charles Leclerc finishing P7.

Leclerc was on the limit in Q3 before losing the rear end of his car and putting it into the wall - bringing out red flags. As a result, both he and two-time world champion Max Verstappen started far up on the grid - P7 and P9, respectively.

Sainz finished qualifying in P3 after the red flag and was unable to maintain his position in the race, losing out to Max Verstappen and George Russell with a P5 finish. Ferrari's main problem at the moment is that the car changes its balance mid-corner, making it extremely difficult for Leclerc and Sainz to drive consistently.

Speaking about the issue on the Race podcast, F1 pundit Scott Mitchell-Malm said about Ferrari:

"It was interesting actually. We've heard before that the car's wind-affected and particularly vulnerable to that. When they talk about lacking consistency on the car, he [Leclerc] said: 'It's not even corner to corner, it's in the same corner, there'll be a wild swing from an oversteer balance to an understeer balance just depending on what's happening through the corner.'"

Charles Leclerc on his 2023 Ferrari challenger

The Ferrari SF-23 has proven to be a challenging car to drive, according to Charles Leclerc. The Monagasque driver struggled again during the 2023 F1 Miami GP, finishing in seventh place.

Following a harrowing crash in the qualifying session, Leclerc started in seventh place and ended the race in the same position. He also encountered difficulties overtaking Haas drivers and other cars in the lower midfield during the race.

According to pitdebrief, Charles Leclerc explained how he spoke to his teammate Carlos Sainz about the lack of consistency in the SF-23 and how it was getting affected in one particular corner. He said:

"I was just speaking just now with Carlos and what we are lacking is consistency in the car. It’s not even from corner to corner, it’s just in the same corner. I can have a huge oversteery balance and then a huge understeery balance and our car is so wind-affected."

He went on to explain how different tire compounds were having unpredictable effects on the Ferrari SF-23 and continued:

"We’re going from one compound to the other and we never know what’s going to happen on the new compound. It’s always an unknown whether the car is going to react well, whether the tyres are going to be in the right window."

With most teams supposedly bringing upgrades to Imola, it will be interesting to see if the Scuderia team is able to rectify its problems.