The bitter analysis from Maranello after the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix is that Scuderia Ferrari are 1s behind Mercedes over one lap. The first major upgrade for the SF1000 should be worth about 0.3s per lap as a result of an improved corner speed, but as the Italian side’s Team Principal confirmed, the deficit on the straights is not something Ferrari can fix immediately.
Mattia Binotto about the upgrade: “It’s important for us to improve in different areas. We’re losing 0.3s in the corners.”
But the new parts, which will arrive at the latest in Hungary are only aimed at the corner weakness of the SF1000: “Engine development is frozen. We can work a lot on the drag, unlike the engine, but we didn’t plan on tackling this quickly.” – the Ferrari boss explained.
Since last year, downforce has priority instead of aerodynamic efficiency at Ferrari: “That still leaves 0.7s on the straight. It’s partly from drag, partly from the engine.” – he added.
However, Mattia Binotto is not worried by the fact that Ferrari was one second slower within a year, with the same regulations: “I don’t make a comparison with last year, I focus only on relative competitiveness.” – the Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal explained, as reported by motorsport-magazin.com – “In Spielberg it was very hot, many engines overheated and next weekend it could be even hotter. That could be a key factor in the beginning of the season.”
A small ray of hope: while other teams struggled with reliability in Spielberg, Ferrari didn’t: “To finish first, you must first finish. We have worked a lot on reliability since last year, that was a weakness.”
Regarding Seb’s car issues, Mattia Binotto said that they will work on solving that for the next race in Spielberg: “We can work on that with the car we have. Sebastian wasn’t happy with the car for the second half of the weekend, we can work on that.”
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