Medland: Positivity fuels Ferrari as it fires up Fiorano

It’s hard to visit Maranello and not use those almost-cliched terms “passion”, “history” and “atmosphere”, but all three were on display in abundance on Tuesday.

After a fresh start, glorious sunshine was warming all of those welcomed to the team’s iconic Fiorano test track, and there was already a crowd gathering on the SP3 – a road that runs alongside the circuit and features a bridge that offers a view of the track – that showed how committed fans are in this part of the world.

Far from locking such observers out of what is often a highly-policed event, Ferrari had actually built a bespoke grandstand near the test track’s final corner in order to be able to house 500 supporters, mainly from the fan club but also featuring students who are linked to future engineering opportunities at the team.

And that was the setting for the uplifting opening to the whole event with a violinist playing the Italian national anthem and fans singing along before the drivers appeared.

All the while, at the Shell-branded garage that sits behind Enzo Ferrari’s house, the new car was being prepared ready to turn its first laps. And believe me when I say these were to be its very first laps, as chats with Ferrari team members wouldn’t even directly state it was running, just that “there should hopefully be something for you to watch, and if not then you won’t know any different!”.

The coin toss was legitimately how the order the drivers would run was finalised (although Vasseur was keen to point out later that he wouldn’t be relying on it for any other decisions he might have to make) and once Charles Leclerc headed behind the screens to jump in the car there was a huge feeling of anticipation.

Unlike many launches that are dressed up as unveilings but really reveal very little about a new car, or shakedowns that let teams provide specific imagery and footage of the car but keep much more under wraps, there was very much an air of the whole world being invited to a usually private moment by Ferrari.

“With the nature of Formula 1 I think we were brave to do it because it was the first ever installation lap we did with that car and it can go bad,” Carlos Sainz said. “We took the risk to do something different… It’s relatively high risk to put a brand new F1 car on track in front of so many people and actually enjoy it without any single problem.”

Given some of the ways Ferrari has tripped itself up in the past, had the car suffered any initial issues it would have been a damaging start to 2023. But instead it was a buoyant one, largely because of just 15km of running.

What Ferrari really captured, though, is something that money simply cannot buy. It’s not a slight on the way any other team has launched its car – be that in New York City, via online renders or stage events in their factories – but the history of the Scuderia is impossible for anyone else to replicate.

To roll a car out onto a test track that nobody else has, cruising past shrines to the team’s past but also symbols of its investment in the future such as the impressive Gestione Sportiva building, and doing so while cheered on by besotted fans clambering to gain any vantage point possible were all unique aspects that only Ferrari can provide.

The buzz around Maranello afterwards was clear as the “Plan A” joke was made. Walking out into the Piazza Michael Schumacher that formed the central hub of the event after it had concluded, the overwhelming reaction from those both on-site and following from afar was positive, and that’s not always easy to achieve where Ferrari is concerned.

“The big difference [to Sauber], I would say, is the expectations are different, the pressure is different, but you can take that in a positive way,” Vasseur said. “For sure the feeling and the mood around the team is different, but I think it is the only team where when you come to the factory at seven in the morning you have people waiting for you outside of the company. You can feel the motivation and the atmosphere around the team and it is a massive push for everyone.”

In launching the SF-23, it felt like Ferrari bottled up that boost and used it to kickstart its season. It’ll likely have next to no bearing on how it performs this year, but if it can maintain that positivity that Vasseur speaks of then it’ll ensure the team isn’t hamstrung by the pressure either.