Red Bull upgrades postponed by budget cap penalty as Ferrari plan offensive strategy 

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has promised some aggressive updates on the SF23 by the Saudi Arabian GP and Australian GP. The Frenchman believes they will be developing the car extensively right until the end of the season as their rivals Red Bull have admitted that they are limited by the budget cap.

Speaking to German publication Motorsport-Magazin, the Ferrari team principal said:

“We have good updates in the quiver. And we won't stop before the end of the season. Of course we're working on the car. Hundreds of people are working on it. Not for next week, that would be too short notice. But we have planned updates for Jeddah and Melbourne if we can do it.”

Vasseur promised early upgrades to the SF23 by the Saudi Arabian race or the Australian GP. Red Bull, meanwhile, are expected to have their earliest upgrade in the fourth round in Baku in Azerbaijan.

With a budget cap and reduced wind tunnel time, Red Bull will be limited with their upgrades to the car. This is an area where Ferrari have a significant advantage as they don’t plan to stop upgrading their car until the end of the season.

As for upgrading and developing the RB19, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko said:

“We have to economize, both with the budget cap and with the wind tunnel times. There is no room for experimentation or risk.”

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Ferrari unbothered by Red Bull’s test pace and strong form

Frederic Vasseur believes testing times are deceptive and not an accurate indicator of the true pace of their rivals. With different teams being on different test programs and varying fuel loads, the newly recruited Maranello team principal remains unbothered about their rivals being stronger than them.

The Frenchman was also unfazed by the timesheets and did not wish to analyse any of the testing progress made by their rivals. Speaking to the on-site media at the test, the Ferrari team principal said:

“Overall, I think that we can be happy with the test that we did. I think overall the car looks okay performance wise, but we don't know about the level of fuel of the others.

“The most important was to scan every kind of setting on the car, because you know that the feature of today [at the test] is completely different to the picture of next week.

“I don't remember who did the fastest lap time last year in Bahrain, but he was not on pole position for the race. And that was the same two years ago.”

He further explained the comparison to his rivals, saying:

“What is true is that on one lap pace, you are not able to judge because you don't know if they are running with 20/30/50 kilos, and they don't know if we are at 20/30/50kg. It means that it's very difficult to do any kind of comparison.”

Vasseur added:

“The only thing that you can judge is when you are doing a race simulation. Because you know that, if you don't stop the car and you do 55 laps, it means that you started with 110kg. It's the only one [where you know].”

Ferrari did not unmask their true pace in the preseason test in Bahrain, whereas their rivals Red Bull looked confident.

Meanwhile, Mercedes struggled with balance issues and some reliability issues. Their customer team Aston Martin, however, were close to the Red Bulls and could be a real threat to the Maranello team.

Regardless of all that, Vasseur was optimistic about being able to win the Bahrain GP while speaking to Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports.