Team boss Mattia Binotto says Ferrari are lacking speed as well as "aerodynamic efficiency", which is perhaps because they were developing their car around a completely different, and much faster, engine before 2020.īut the comparative 20 qualifying results show that straight-line speed is their biggest issue.įerrari's fastest time in Austria was 0.9s slower this year compared to 2019, while they were 0.3s slower at Silverstone, 0.8s slower in Spain and 0.4s slower in Belgium. The fact Ferrari-powered customer teams Alfa Romeo and Haas are also struggling proves the massive drop in engine performance, although that doesn't explain why both Vettel and Leclerc were beaten by Kimi Raikkonen, in what has been a back-running Alfa, in Belgium last weekend. So their poor form is just because of their engine? Their lack of pace, however, is clear for everyone to see. Ferrari, although refusing to disclose any details, staunchly maintain their innocence. A private settlement was reached between the FIA and Ferrari over its engine earlier this year - which was hardly welcomed by rival teams and heightened suspicion. The setback on the track has come amid following controversy off it. What's more, Ferrari were the only team not to improve on their 2019 lap time around Spa. There have been a number of other engine rule changes for 2020 that appear to have affected the Scuderia more than others, and the team now clearly have the worst power unit in F1 - as evidenced by Leclerc, on pole in Belgium 2019 but 13th in 2020, being 10km/h slower through the speed trap in qualifying this year. And though the team are adamant the rules change didn't affect them, they haven't been fastest in qualifying since.Ĭharles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel talk about a difficult Spa race as the Ferrari drivers fought for position out of the points The FIA regularly performed checks on the Ferrari engine and were happy with its legality, although a rules clarification - following questions from Red Bull and relating to fuel flow - came at October's United States GP.Ī matter of hours later, Ferrari's run of six consecutive poles was over. Lewis Hamilton famously described Ferrari's engine as having a "jet mode" given their advantage - particularly in qualifying - over Mercedes and Red Bull, who both wondered how they had stolen such a march. Why's that? Well, their current woes can be traced back to the end of 2019 - a season in which they were by far the fastest team on the straights. Why have Ferrari been so slow?įerrari's main issue is that they've lost a huge amount of straight-line speed. So yes, they can claim to have the two best drivers in F1.It says a lot that after seven rounds, the sport's most successful outfit are rather fortunate to be just seven points off third place in the standings. Max is stellar, definitely a match for the Ferrari boys but Albon is completey unproven and is being used as a second and in a training role.ĭaniel has as much potential as anyone but Ocon is unproven and is there to see if he can be good.Ĭarlos has the potential IMHO but noone is going to suggest he is better than the Ferrari drivers, and Lando is still in 'Promising' territory. Lewis is best of them all, but Bottas is there as a wingman and everyone knows it. No other team can really say that they have this across both drivers. Matching Seb last year showed Charles' ability is up there with all the top drivers too. I know you all hate Seb and he can be flaky but he wins races regularly, poles regularly and has 4 WDCs and you wouldn't actually be surprised if he won the WDC if Ferrari got the car right would you?. Think about it.įerrari have two demonstrably WDC competitive drivers. I'm happy enough to call it the best driver lineup at the moment.
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