"Ferrari is not winning that race in the first half of the season": F1 analyst on the significant progress made by Charles Leclerc's team in 2023

F1 pundits Edd Straw, Ben Anderson and Scott Mitchell-Malm recently discussed how much Charles Leclerc's team, Ferrari, has improved from the start of the 2023 F1 season uptil the latter half of it. The Italian giants were the only team this season to bag a non-Red Bull race win in Singapore.

Speaking on The Race F1 podcast, Scott Mitchell-Malm first asked others whether the team's overall result in 2023 looks even better with the win. To this, Edd Straw agreed and stated that despite the fact that the win did not fundamentally improve their car, it added a small but nice ring to their season.

"Yeah, I think it nudges you up a little bit. It does not fundamentally change the performance of your car. It's a good thing for Ferrari not to have a winless season, just as it's to have a winless season," Straw said.

Mitchell-Malm then claimed that the Prancing Horse would not have won the race had it been in the first half of the season, when they were struggling.

"And also, I think it is fair to say that, Ferrari is not winning that race in the first half of the season, is it?" said Mitchell-Malm.

Agreeing to this, both Edd Straw and Ben Anderson noted that Aston Martin would have won the Singapore GP if it had been held in the first half of the season. Edd Straw said:

"No, I don't think so"

Ben Anderson added:

"No. Aston, Aston would probably win that race in the first half of the season."

After the first half of the season, Ferrari started bagging more podium finishes and in the Singapore GP, Carlos Sainz drove a brilliant race with intelligent manouvers to bring home a race win for the Maranello-based outfit.

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Ferrari team boss on treating both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc equally

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur recently claimed that the team has treated both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc equally and will continue to do so. He pointed out how both of them finished the 2023 F1 season with almost equal points, proving that they are equal.

"We have two drivers who finished with almost the same score," Formu1a.uno quoted Vasseur as saying. "We found ourselves here talking about first and second drivers, and I assured them that they would be treated the same way. And I think we proved it."

Charles Leclerc ended the season in fifth position with 206 points, while Carlos Sainz secured seventh place with 200 points.