Ferrari has launched its 2023 Formula1 season challenger the SF23 during a ceremony at the Fiorano test facility.
Charles Leclerc had the honours of taking the car out for a drive first after winning a coin toss conducted by new team Principle Fred Vasseur before Carlos Sainz also took the SF23 for three laps around the circuit.
“It feels good,” said Leclerc after completing his two laps.
“It feels special. Everything went smoothly. Obviously, with two laps it’s difficult to go into details but I already gave my feedback once I was in the car to the engineers”.
“The car was running well, smooth. Everything went really well,”.
Ferrari will be hoping to avoid last season’s mistakes with their new SF23.
Their 2022 car, the F1-75, was arguably the fastest on the grid but suffered from reliability issues which allowed Red Bull and Max Verstappen to run away with both the constructor’s and the driver’s titles.
Leclerc who lead the championship after three rounds barely managed to hang on to second place ahead of Max’s teammate Sergio Perez.
“It’s always emotional for a team to do the launch that we put so much effort – honestly not myself, I joined too late and my contribution is very small on this one,” Vasseur added during Ferrari’s launch.
Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will reportedly be allowed to race each other during their third season as teammates with Vasseur ruling out favouring the Monagasque.
Sainz struggled to get hold of the 2022 car at first before getting his feet under him, even winning the British GP for his first F1 win.
Red Bull has already unveiled its RB19 while Mercedes will lift the curtains off the W14 tomorrow as the testing date in Bahrain draws closer.
The season will begin in March.
