Ferrari reveal plans for ‘significant’ change of F1 2020 car direction
Written by News on 30/06/2020
Ferrari have revealed their 2020 car will not feature any updates compared to the one run at February testing for F1’s return in Austrian GP, with the team instead working on a “significant change of direction” in development.
Confirming their first round of updates will instead appear at the season’s third round – in Hungary in two weeks’ time – Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto said their disappointing form in winter testing had led to a rethink with the SF1000.
“This weekend the car will run in the same configuration used towards the end of the Barcelona tests,” said Binotto.
“This doesn’t mean we have been twiddling our thumbs in the very limited time of just five and a half weeks in which we were able to work on the cars, because of the stringent procedures involved in working around the pandemic as well as the total shutdown of activities required by the FIA in agreement with the teams.
“The truth is that the outcome of the tests led us to take a significant change of direction in terms of development, especially on the aerodynamic front.
“First, we had to understand why we did not see the results we had expected on track and how much to recalibrate the whole programme as a result. It would have been counterproductive to continue in the direction we had planned, knowing that we would not have reached our goals.
“Therefore we decided to come up with a new programme that looked at the whole car, knowing that not all of it would be ready for the first race.
“Our aim is to introduce the updates at the third race on 19 July at the Hungaroring. Apart from that, over and above the actual development of the car itself, these past few weeks we have worked a lot on analysing its behaviour, with simulation work and with the help of our drivers and I think that will prove its worth in Austria.”
More to follow…
The Formula 1 season begins on Friday on Sky Sports F1 with the Austrian GP. Sunday’s race starts at 2.10pm. Find out more & subscribe to Sky F1.
(c) Sky Sports 2020: Ferrari reveal plans for ‘significant’ change of F1 2020 car direction
