Scuderia Ferrari started the 2019 Formula One season with a lot of confidence and exciting prospects after a strong 2017/18 championship, especially in the first half, and a strong display during the pre-season testing sessions in Barcelona. Sadly, it was not meant to be for the Italian side, despite the fact that after the summer break Ferrari made a lot of progress and was finally able to take the fight to their rivals. Too little too late for the 2019 titles, which means that the Maranello team should now already focus on what they need to improve for a successful title push next season.
Reliability
It may seem that Ferrari has the best power unit this season, but in terms of efficiency, reliability is maybe even more important than sheer power and the Italian side has on more than on occasion had to deal with reliability issues during the season, which made life easy for Mercedes in their pursuit for another title. Fans will certainly remember Charles Leclerc’s decisive cylinder problem at the Bahrain International Circuit and the power issue which prevented Sebastian Vettel from a certain win in Russia. Not to mention the problems that occurred during the qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix (for Seb, leaving him P10) and, even worse, for both drivers in Germany, leaving Charles in tenth place and Sebastian at the back of the grid, after a promising display during the free practice sessions at the Hockenheimring. On the other hand, Mercedes’ impressive reliability was one of the main factors which led to our rivals having it easy in these last races of the 2019 Formula One season. Looking forward to a trouble-free 2020!
Driver tension
Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc are definitely top-class drivers but they have to work together if they want to beat an utterly immaculate Mercedes next season. On paper Bottas is also free to fight Hamilton, at least in the beginning of the season, but Mercedes has shown on more than one occasion that they have no problem in asking the Finn to move over when things don’t go as planned for their number 1 driver.
The partnership between Sebastian and Charles is far from the point where the Ferrari drivers have collided, nor has it yet cost them in any serious manner, but the truth is that the situation has the potential to go horribly wrong, especially if the Maranello team will be able to provide them with a car capable of challenging Mercedes from the start of the season. Team Principal Mattia Binotto repeatedly stated that having two drivers of such high quality is a luxury but the pure nub of the matter is that, at some stage, things will go wrong (as it has often happened between two top drivers) unless both drivers can find common ground and work together for a greater purpose, which is a constructors title for Ferrari.
Car development
Scuderia Ferrari has shown a much stronger pace after Formula 1’s summer break as aerodynamic parts delivered to the SF90 have solved some of the balance issues that previously prevented the car from being able to challenge Mercedes on every track. In many ways, this season has been a reverse of the 2017 and 2018 championships, when Ferrari started on a high note, but gradually was not able to keep up wih the car development during the entire season. It’s about time the Italian side started the season on a stronger footing – and not be left playing catch-up – but at the same time string together a year-long challenge, something which Ferrari unfortunately has not been able to do for almost a decade.
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