Ferrari denies need for car concept overhaul despite F1 deficit to Red Bull

Ferrari's disappointing start to the 2022 Formula 1 season has led to speculation about whether the Italian team needs to rethink its car concept.

However, team principal Fred Vasseur is adamant that their current car is good enough to take the fight to Red Bull.  

Ferrari's hopes of leading the challenge against Red Bull in the season opener were dashed after suffering worse tyre degradation in the race, leaving them well adrift before Charles Leclerc suffered an engine problem while running third.  

This left the door open for a hard-charging Fernando Alonso to swoop his Aston Martin past Carlos Sainz late on in the race and grab the final podium finish.

Despite Mercedes admitting it needs to change direction with its car philosophy to get back to the front of F1, Ferrari is confident it doesn't need to consider the same thing.

Ferrari has pursued an in-wash aero philosophy while Red Bull's downwash solution has delivered good results, especially as Aston Martin has copied it. However, Vasseur thinks that Ferrari only needs to improve small details to put Red Bull under pressure.

"To summarise the situation, I would say on quali pace, we are there, we are matching Red Bull, at least in Bahrain. It was a positive point. But now we have to be fully realistic."

"If we want to improve, we need to have a clear picture of the situation, and reliability is not at the level that we need."

"If we want to win races, we need to have a clean sheet on the weekend and not small details there and there,” said Vasseur.

While Red Bull's dominance in Bahrain has prompted suggestions the championship battle is all but over, Vasseur insists nothing is lost yet.

"It's never good to start with a DNF, and I would have preferred to finish for sure, but I want to stay consistent in my position."

"I told the team before the test in Bahrain two weeks ago that the championship won't be over in Bahrain, and it doesn't matter the result in any case."

Ferrari has launched an investigation into what went wrong with the power unit in Leclerc's car, after it shut down while he was running third.

Vasseur said the problem had come out of the blue, as there had been no hint of an issue during winter dyno running nor pre-season testing.

"We never expected to have something like this. It is the first time that we had it."

"We didn't face the same issue at all during the 6000-7000km that we did with the engine in the last week with the three teams, and we didn't develop the same issue on the dyno."

Ferrari's Bahrain Grand Prix performance has sparked a plethora of questions regarding the Scuderia's competitiveness this season.

While it may be prudent to reserve judgment until a few more races have been contested, it's clear that Ferrari has some urgent self-reflection to undertake.

Specifically, they must investigate why their car appears to be disproportionately hard on its tires, and whether any underlying issues with their simulator may be impacting their on-track performance.

Only by comprehensively addressing these concerns can Ferrari hope to make significant strides in the intensely competitive 2023 season.