Ferrari reveal their F1 car name for 2023 season ahead of Valentine's Day launch

Ferrari have revealed the name of their 2023 F1 challenger a week ahead of their Valentine's Day launch.

The new car will be called the SF-23, straying from last year's nomenclature of F1-75.

The team is returning to their previous nomenclature, choosing to ditch the 'F1-75' style naming convention as they used on their 2022 challenger. The team has used the 'SF' naming standard throughout the turbo-hybrid era of the sport (with the exception of 2022) and will now return home. This will be the eighth Scuderia to be named this way, much to the surprise of fans.

The Maranello-based team will be looking to challenge for both titles this year after failing to sustain a championship challenge in 2022. The Italian team crumbled under pressure from Red Bull despite having started off strongly.

Charles Leclerc managed to win two of the opening three races in 2022, giving the Tifosi hope that 2022 would be their year. However, the team suffered a string of reliability and strategic issues, leading to their own downfall in both world titles. Leclerc will be looking to give Ferrari their first drivers' title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.

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Ferrari's 2023 F1 car has lost weight: Reports

As per reports, Ferrari's 2023 F1 car has lost weight, perhaps going even below the 796 kg limit. The team had a pacey car in 2022 but failed to sustain a championship challenge against Red Bull and Max Verstappen.

Going below the 796 kg limit will allow the team to add ballast to the car to help improve its balance and performance, should they choose to do so. The Italian team struggled with tire degradation in 2022, leading to stellar performances on Saturdays but poor showings on Sundays.

Red Bull's RB18 was able to manage its tires a lot better than Italian F1-75, leading to frequent race wins for the Austrian team.

Sources suggest that Ferrari has developed a new lightweight chassis for 2023 which will help manage its tires and give it a better lap time overall. The success of the team's efforts, however, will not be known until the new car is fully assembled and finds its way to a weighing scale.

There are also reports that Red Bull have managed to create a chassis 3 kg lighter than the championship-winning RB18. Given the team's reduced wind tunnel testing time, however, it is unclear whether this new chassis will hold up to the rest in 2023.

With former drivers such as David Coulthard backing Ferrari in 2023, it will be interesting to see how the upcoming season develops.