July 16, 2020 – Sebastian Vettel thinks that the upgrades introduced will put Ferrari on the right track, but does not yet see the further developments as the hoped ‘game changer’. The influence is too limited for that. For the GP of Hungary, the Scuderia has not put any new upgrades on the SF1000, but it is still trying to collect data about the package introduced in Austria.
Initially, Ferrari had planned a large-scale update for the race weekend at the Hungaroring. But due to the disappointing overture, every effort has been made to introduce the new parts early. This has been successful, although the outside world has barely seen the effect of this. For example, the qualification in Spielberg literally and figuratively fell into the water and the party on Sunday was soon over. Inquiry by GPUpdate.net learns that Ferrari did not bring any significant new upgrades this weekend, but that they mainly want to do what did not work last week: still collect data about the package from Austria.
That data should make Ferrari much wiser, although Vettel personally already has an idea about the effect of the upgrades. “We know the new parts are working. Of course we would like those upgrades to be a ‘game changer’, but that’s not what it looks like at this stage,” said Vettel during the online press conference on Thursday. “But our expectations for the upgrades have yet to be confirmed in normal racing conditions,” the German said at the untimely end last week. “It will be interesting from tomorrow to see where our car really is, especially in the race.”
Leclerc: Currently not realistic to fight for stages
Judging by the first race weekends, Ferrari does not seem to be looking at Mercedes and Red Bull, but rather at Racing Point and McLaren. And even those teams seem at least equivalent to the prancing horse. This raises the legitimate question of whether Ferrari has changed from top team to mid-engine in 2020. “Well, it is right to say that we are currently struggling,” Charles Leclerc begins euphemistically. “I don’t think it’s realistic to fight for stages right now. But of course we are trying to change that. We are doing everything we can and are working as hard as possible to reverse this difficult situation.”
