F1 | Ferrari, a little light comes in through the "window", but more evidence is needed

Canada saw the best Ferrari of the season. This assumption would be enough to understand how complicated the year is for the Red Team, destined for back-up positions against the backdrop of Max Verstappen's unassailable dominance. In a Formula 1 that also reserves a toy train race in the often spectacular Montreal, However, Ferrari was the protagonist of an interesting race, both for performance and strategy.

For the first time in the season the SF23 was consistent in its timing and above all did not devour the very tasty rubber of the Pirellis. Incredibly, it didn't even collapse on the hard tyres, maintaining a decent pace until the end of the GP. A very good pace especially with the medium compounds, such as to allow Vasseur's team to stay on the track when the safety car came in and make a leap forward by several positions, adopting the one-stop strategy.

In short, the Ferrari that eats tires went to Canada and not only did it no longer wear them out, but it managed to stop once less than everyone else, while also remaining fast. A miracle? A real step forward? An episode? We don't know, but we'll find out.

Certainly the developments brought to Barcelona, ​​certainly not effective at their debut, have allowed Ferrari to widen its tire usage window, in short, this "tire management window" was finally opened after eight races. And a flash of light entered. Leclerc and Sainz, authors of a constant race, without errors and mistakes, for the first time appeared satisfied with the behavior of the car in the race.

What we are all wondering now is whether Ferrari has found something, between the rear mechanics and aerodynamics, capable of making the car's set-up and therefore the tires work or has it simply found a not too selective asphalt, made as smooth as a coffee table? billiards from the rain that fell in the previous days and therefore little stress for the compounds. Verstappen complained of a great lack of grip of the same, and if more grip means performance, at the same time it means more rubber consumption. It's an interpretation, hopefully not the correct one.

In fact, it would be more desirable to think of a Ferrari that is headed in the right direction, capable of at least making the SF23 work with regular performance on the long run. Exorcising the performance drops halfway through the GP is a good start to returning to being credible.

At this point Spielberg and Silverstone, two tough tracks, with corners that were missing in Montreal, are tests not to be failed. And they represent the best possible counter-proof to Canada's encouraging performance. A clue is just a clue, and allow me, too many times in recent years we have gotten excited about nothing. Let alone for a good race, but one that still ended far from the podium. The road is still long, let's try to keep the "window" open in Austria too.

Antonino Rendina