Ferrari engineer suspects Red Bull giving up one-lap performance for race pace gains

Ferrari engineer Jock Clear claimed that rival Red Bull are sacrificing their one-lap qualifying performance in exchange for superior race pace in the 2023 season.

The Austrian team have been the benchmark for the field in the first 5 races of the current season. They have won every single Grand Prix including the Sprint race in Baku thus far.

Clear mentioned that the Ferrari can follow the Red Bull model to improve their race pace, but currently cannot afford to take a backseat in qualifying. As per Autosport, he said:

“Do we have to take a hit in qualifying? That's always a very difficult pill to swallow because races are very often made in qualifying. So, we can't afford to take our eye off the qualifying ball. But certainly, we need to fully understand how we can get the race pace.

Clear added:

“We have to take our hat off to the Red Bull and say they are doing something very, very clever. That car works very, very well in race pace. We might also conclude that to do so, maybe they are giving up some qualifying pace. That's why we can compete with them because they're not optimal in qualifying.”

The Ferrari engineer also pointed out are area where the defending World Champions are superior to them, saying:

“They are very, very quick along the straights, especially when the DRS is open. Again, we have to look at that and see what we can do better to shed that drag because that’s free lap time. The driver doesn't have to use too much skill to get from [one turn to another] as fast as possible. That's clearly an area where they were very quick.”

“We have a good understanding of where the issues lie" - Ferrari driver coach

Clear, whose official job title is driving coach for Charles Leclerc, stated that the team is aware of where they are lacking currently and are thinking of solutions to improve their performance. The Ferrari engineer said:

“We have a good understanding of where the issues lie. It's quantifying it. So, in some ways, we would say, ‘OK, we're looking at what's going on in the race compared to what's going on in qualifying’. We can see some differences. Maybe what we can't quite align is how those differences turn out. That’s the process that we're going through at the moment, [it] is to identify what we can do, or what we can shift around in terms of our focus, to maybe bring that race pace back into line.”

Ferrari will be looking to sort out their issues as soon as possible so they can challenge Red Bull in the remaining races and have a fighting chance in the Constructors title race.