Mattia Binotto admitted Sebastian’s difficulties in 2019 with a particularly unstable rear end under the braking system in the first part of the season. For next season, the German will have an F1 with more downforce that will also adapt more to Sebastian’s driving characteristics. To have a two-pronged attack … Sebastian Vettel is playing his future. Ferrari is setting up a red car which, at least on paper, should be a single-seater more suited to the German’s driving style. It is no secret that the four-time world champion likes a rear axle particularly attached to the asphalt, given the fact that Seb dominated in the era of blowing exhausts, when the rear load was increasing due to the hot engine gases.
In the year-end analysis, Mattia Binotto admitted Vettel’s difficulties in adapting: “I think Seb has struggled more than Charles to adapt to our car at the beginning of the season when we had problems with instability when braking on the rear”. – the Ferrari boss said, according to Motorsport Italy.
The lack of downforce in the rear of the SF90, designed to have good air penetration, in search of high maximum speeds, has sent into crisis the one who at the beginning of the 2019 championship was Ferrari’s top driver.
A wrong choice, which the Maranello team tried to remedy during the course of 2019 and, above all, will try not to repeat the error in the next championship … “I believe that, after being put under pressure also by his team mate – continues Binotto – Sebastian has been able to react in the second half of the season, perhaps with a car that suited better his driving style “.
“Vettel was able to approach the situation in a very analytical way, as he always did, looking at the set up, the data, analyzing the differences and then, all in all, reacting very well in the second part”.
“Sebastian is definitely a driver who is at the center of our project. That is first and foremost owed to the fact that he is an experienced driver, who’s been with Ferrari for many years now. He knows the team well, he knows our engineers well. So his feedback on the development of the car is also very important for us, because even the language we adopt has been an important reference for Charles in his growth. “
The first 2020 races will be crucial not only to outline how Ferrari will perform year, but also to outline what the German’s ambitions will be, given that in Maranello they have invested in Leclerc for the next five years, if he will be willing to extend his contract and so remove the sirens about the future presence of Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.
For Mattia Binotto, Sebastian Vettel’s contribution will still be decisive … “If one looks at his race pace, it was still very good compared to Charles. So he is a driver who can be fast in qualifying and knows how to be fast in the race. So I think that from this point of view he has important and useful qualities”.
The new Ferrari that will be shown on February 11 should be a weapon capable of exploiting Sebastian’s qualities as well: more downforce means more vertical thrust. A sign that the tires will have a greater operating window and the performance of the red team will be less fluctuating from one track to another.
In particular, the adoption of the hydraulically controlled front suspension should be a further aid to the best exploitation of the Pirelli tires that will remain the same as the 2019 version, facilitating the task of the German who is looking for excellent cornering, while Charles Leclerc seems more inclined to exploit any technical solution is made available to him to its limits.
The young Monegasque, who was able in the first year at Ferrari to sign seven of the eight pole positions conquered by the Cavallino, on the other hand, will benefit from the new car to extend the life of the tires during the stints and avoid having to do too much tire management in the decisive moments of some races.
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