VETTEL EXPLAINS WHAT HIS FERRARI IS MISSING

Is Ferrari bluffing or are they really that slow? Vettel gives answers to one of the crucial questions during the Formula 1 tests in Barcelona.

After Sebastian Vettel’s last press conference in Barcelona on Thursday, the answer must be: The Italians really have a problem.

Sebastian Vettel admits “The car is a step forward. You can feel that, even in the last sector.” Last year it’s still the problem of the red racer, which was geared for top speed and not for corners. This year, Ferrari wanted to improve the efficiency of the car – but the shot went backward.

The German stressed a remarkable number of times – in German and in English “We managed to generate more downforce. But of course, there are always side-effects, namely more air resistance on the straight.” It currently costs Ferrari a lot of top speed – so much that the competition has already assumed that Ferrari intentionally turned the engine down.

This is contested by the Scuderia. Vettel: “In general, others are faster and we have a lot of work ahead of us. The signs at the moment are not perfect for us. But even if that’s the case, the whole thing has to be turned around.” 

Worrying: The SF1000 is also not perfect in corners, especially in slow ones. On Thursday Vettel struggled with a lot of understeer.

For the German, it is clear: “We’re not the favorites. But let’s see where we’re in Australia. Then we’ll see. It looks like Mercedes will have it easier. It currently looks like they are in front.”

Team boss Mattia Binotto goes a lot further. The Italian believes that Ferrari is more likely to fight the pink Mercedes from Racing Point than the silver original:

“You are close. This is not surprising when you look at the shape of your car, ” explained the Italian to Racing Point, which is jokingly referred to as the Mercedes car because of the copied aerodynamics of the old silver arrow.