Scuderia Ferrari has had a perfect start to the 2017 Formula One season, but the Maranello team is perfectly aware of the fact that the constant upgrades and the development process during the year will be crucial in order to give Sebastian Vettel the chance to challenge Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton for the F1 world championship.
In Bahrain Ferrari brought the first major update to the SF70H car by introducing completely new front wings, which were redesigned in many details from the version of the front wings seen in Shanghai, at the Chinese Grand Prix. While this proved to be a successful upgrade for Kimi and Sebastian’s car, both Scuderia Ferrari drivers encountered several problems during the first two practice sessions for the Bahrain Grand Prix, and as a result the Maranello engineers did not want to take any riscks and decided to have the turbochargers tuned down in order to make sure that no technical problems with the engine are encountered during the race. A situation that definitely did not help the Ferrari drivers in Sakhir, but one which proves that the SF70H car is highly competitive even in such conditions.
For the 2017 Russian Grand Prix, Auto Motor und Sport magazine reports that the Maranello team will introduce a specific upgrade which should allow Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen to capitalize on the entire power of the engine. Ferrari’s upgraded 2017 power unit might be better than that of rivals Mercedes according to many specialists, but the Scuderia has to sort out parts with potential reliability issues, which should be completed ahead of the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi.
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