Ferrari has announced that its 2020 car will have no updates compared to the February F1 F1 GP update in Austria. Instead, the team is working on a “significant change of direction” in development.
Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto confirmed that his first round of updates will instead appear in the third round of the season – in two weeks in Hungary. Their disappointing shape in the winter tests led to a rethink with the SF1000.
“This weekend the car will drive in the same configuration that was used towards the end of the Barcelona tests,” said Binotto.
“That doesn’t mean that in the very limited time of just five and a half weeks we were able to work on the cars, we flipped our thumbs because of the strict procedures to avoid the pandemic and the complete shutdown by the FIA in consultation activities requested by the teams.
“The truth is that the result of the tests meant that we made a significant change in direction in terms of development, especially in the aerodynamic area.
“First we had to understand why we didn’t see the expected results on the right track and how much we had to recalibrate the entire program as a result.
“It would have been counterproductive to continue in the direction we were planning because we knew we would not have achieved our goals.
“That’s why we decided to develop a new program that looked at the whole car, because we knew that not everything would be ready for the first race.
“Our goal is to present the updates for the third race on July 19th at the Hungaroring. Apart from that, in the past few weeks, beyond the actual development of the car, we have worked a lot on analyzing its behavior, with simulation work and with the help of our drivers, and I think that will prove its worth in Austria. ”
HOW FAST WILL FERRARI BE IN AUSTRIA?
After the six days in the pre-season in February, there was general consensus that Ferrari left both Mercedes and Red Bull behind with their new 2020 car.
Both Ferrari rivals have also confirmed that they will bring updates to the packages offered in Barcelona – including a Honda engine upgrade for Red Bull.
“We know that we don’t have the fastest package at the moment,” said Binotto, whose team has not yet won in Austria since the country returned to the F1 calendar in 2014.
“We knew before we went to Melbourne (for the season opening Grand Prix that was eventually canceled), and that hasn’t changed. Nevertheless, the Spielberg race track has different properties than Montmelo and the temperatures will be significantly higher than in February.
“In Austria we have to try to make the most of every opportunity, and then in Hungary with the new development step we are working on, we can see where we are really compared with the others and take this into account the developments that our competitors themselves brought with it. “
This article first appeared on Sky Sports and has been reproduced with permission
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