As Formula 1 wakens from its winter hibernation, rumours are beginning to swirl around Europe about the 2023 cars.
AlphaTauri, Aston Martin and Ferrari have already announced when they will be lifting the sheets on their new models, although it’s still TBC when Mercedes and Red Bull will be doing the same.
The famous La Gazzetta dello Sport has already started to drip feed some info that they say is legit… The as-yet unnamed Ferrari – simply known as Project 675 – is set to be an evolution not a revolution of the F1-75, which showed its quality but was hamstrung by minor unreliability and some team mistakes.
Ferrari’s 2023 car will be narrower due to an ‘aerodynamic concept that will be largely different’ and innovations such as a new gearbox will ‘be more capable of increasing the competitiveness of the car’ – with this report saying 30 horsepower will be added to the Ferrari power unit.
The Red Bull is set to be 3kg lighter than its dominant F1 2022 predecessor, with the report stating ‘the gearbox, thanks to a different placement of the suspension elements, will present a lower narrowing, increasing the section of the Venturi channels.
‘The layout of the sides will maintain strong points of contact with the 2022 car, but will be characterised by a refinement of the ‘double bottom’.’
Rumours of a lighter Red Bull came to light during the cost cap row that engulfed the end of the 2022 season.
Apparently, there were plans to introduce a lighter car in the second half of the campaign that was shelved because of the early season dominance in order to prevent Red Bull from going over the cost cap for a second time.
According to the rules, costs are only incurred when the parts become used.