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How Ferrari Lost The Last Battle But Should Win The Next One

10.12.2019

Ferrari has just completed a most complicated Formula 1 season. It may have ended up second in the F1 manufacturer’s championship, but its drivers were only fourth and fifth in the driver’s race on an erratic and often controversial and contentious season, but team boss Mattia Binotto kept his hand on the tiller to emerge positive about the Scuderia’s future prospects...

Despite great winter testing promise, Ferrari started the season on the back foot with a disappointed Sebastian Vettel only managing fourth and Charles Leclerc fifth in Australia. “At the start of the season, the car was just not fast enough — it failed to deliver on its winter testing, where it had promised so much more,” team manager Binotto reflected, “We still do not understand what happened between winter testing and Melbourne — apparently, we took a step back, while the others improved…"

Moving on to Bahrain, a faster track better suited to the touchy SF90, Ferrari topped every practice session and locked out the front row as Charles Leclerc earned his maiden pole position, three tenths clear of teammate Vettel, who moved into the lead as Leclerc dropped to third at the start.

Leclerc fought back to take the lead against the team's advice, setting the fastest lap of the race and leading easily when his engine went off to allow Hamilton and Bottas through for another Mercedes 1-2, but Charles was spared his first podium by a late safety car

In China, the Ferraris looked on as Mercedes trotted to its third 1-2 on the trot but on the long straights of Azerbijan, Leclerc was favourite for pole when he crashed out in qualifying. Starting 8t. Charles ran harder tyres and led much of the race out of sequence and set another fastest lap of the day after a late stop en route to fifth with Vettel trotting home third

The European season started on the back foot as Vettel and Leclerc trailed home in fourth and fifth in heartless Spain, before Vettel drove a canny race to second in Monaco as Leclerc retired.

The Canadian Grand Prix proved a farce as much as an enigma — an on form Vettel started from pole and led until lap 48, when under pressure from Hamilton, he took to the grass at Turn 3, before saving it and driving on to take the flag first, only to be accused of impeding the pursuing Hamilton. The stewards slapped a five-second penalty on a furious Vettel to hand the win to Hamilton with Leclerc third. Ferrari threatened to appeal, but did not go through with the complaint. At least the Ferrari had found back some pace...

Leclerc then followed the Mercedes home in third in France with Vettel fifth after setting the bonus point fastest lap, but there was more drama in Austria. Leclerc started on pole and led most of the race, only to be barged out of the way by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with just a few laps left to race. The stewards deemed that one a racing incident as Leclerc trailed home second with Vettel fourth.

At the British Grand Prix, Leclerc ended third and a scrappy Vettel fifth after being penalised for rear-ending Verstappen under braking. In Germany Vettel started at the back and came back to end second in a chaotic race after a charging Leclerc was caught out in the wet and crashed out. Winless Ferrari then went into the summer break off another lacklustre Hungarian Grand Prix where Vettel ended fourth from Leclerc.

Against all odds, Ferrari came back to Belgium with all guns firing and most pundits putting the dominant Charles Leclerc’s maiden grands prix wins off pole position down to fast Spa and Monza suiting the SF90, but both races proved disastrous for Vettel, who left Monza under a cloud following another dubious performance.

The experts were however silenced when Leclerc put it on pole in Singapore, but the monegasque was unimpressed to emerge from his first pitstop behind his teammate, who proceeded to sprint away to win from Leclerc in a welcome Ferrari 1-2 as Leclerc moved to third in the title race. "The car got better,” Binotto explained — we were finding more downforce step by step — that was the trick.

“Our Singapore package was the most important building block but it was not the only one — we had already gained a better understanding of the balance of the car, but Singapore brought us the extra downforce that was important to improve cornering speeds, which was especially evident in the race.”

Discussing Vettel’s return to form, Binotto put the German's early-season issues down to a lack of confidence in the car. "It was unstable at the rear, especially when braking. and Sebastian lacked confidence — you cannot drive at the limit like that, but the more downforce we found, the more Seb’s confidence returned and his lap times improved.

“Charles also set a good bar for him and I like that Sebastian is experienced and very analytical — he stayed calm and worked his way around his problems and came to understand what he had to do to improve himself and the car.”

Vettel and Leclerc then locked out the Japanese GP front row for Ferrari, but Leclerc tangled with Verstappen to earn a penalty, which grew to 15 seconds for driving in an unsafe car, leaving Vettel to follow Bottas home in second with Leclerc sixth. Still the Ferrari was defying the odds with a strong showing in a track most expected it not to shine on.

“In the second half of the season, we found more downforce and by compromise that brings more drag,” Binotto pointed out. “That meant we reduced our half a second disadvantage in the curves down to around two tenths, but it also meant that we lost much of our power advantage on straights.

“That caused most people to draw the wrong conclusions on our engines,” he laughed. “We did not change the engines at all — it was more about generating more downforce, which means drag increases and that steals straight-line speed. “So we were a bit faster in the corners, but slower on the straights.”

Discussing that assumed engine advantage, Binotto said, "We believe that we did have a maximum advantage of about 20 horsepower, which is still a respectable number — we do not believe it was ever as much as 50 horses. That’s still a big advantage — it helps in both qualifying and in the race and I am proud of this development."

"The gap to Mercedes was huge with our first hybrid car in 2014 — about 80 horsepower, but we made a tremendous effort in Maranello to close that gap and I think we have done a great job."

Back to the track, Vettel finished second and Leclerc sixth after setting the resurgent Ferrari’s sixth pole position on the trot in Mexico. That pace Ferrari advantage, however, seemed to have disappeared by the time Lewis Hamilton wrapped up his fifth world title behind Mercedes teammate Bottas at the US Grand Prix, where Leclerc ended fourth and Vettel’s wonky SF90 retired. “We did not have the fastest car later in the season,” Binotto conceded.

A tough season of Ferrari driver infighting was however about to come to a head in Brazil as teammates Leclerc and Vettel, running third and fourth at the time and looking good to make up positions, touched on the back straight causing enough damage to both cars to see them retire from the race, much to the chagrin of the team and the tifosi.

"We have a great driver pairing, not an explosive one,” Binotto reflected on the Interlagos casino. “Seb and Charles are very fast, very ambitious, but what happened in Brazil should never happen. “Yes, it was just a small contact, but it had a huge impact.

But the team boss does not see his drivers having an issue as a result of that disaster: “It’s not like some of the classic driver clashes — outside the car, Sebastian and Charles are good with each other — they know that the collision was unacceptable and they talked it over in private and they know what want as a team and that, and they know that Ferrari always comes first.

“The perception from the outside is deceptive, we actually have a good atmosphere and the drivers talk to each other, exchange information and they are quite open with each other — it really is not difficult to manage the two. “That said, if you drive against your teammate, you need to be a little more careful — in the end, Ferrari scored zero points in Brazil and that's not good. “I expect my drivers to be smart enough to avoid it in the future.”

Ferrari’s season fizzled out after that — Leclerc ended a lacklustre third and Vettel fifth in the Abu Dhabi season finale, leaving Max Verstappen to claim third in the driver’s title behind Mercedes men Hamilton and Bottas as Leclerc ended fourth in the title race and Vettel fifth

Reflecting on the season, Binotto did not believe the Scuderia was ever in a with a shot of the title, but he remains confident on future prospects. "It is true that we could have won many more races,” Mattia admitted. “But to get a title you need both the fastest and most reliable car and we had neither. “That said we are not so far away — we have to close the gap and that certainly is possible.

“We had an efficient car, but that was obviously not enough — Mercedes had the best car and therefore they won both titles — we lacked downforce and that is the benchmark in Formula One today.

"One of our challenges in having the fastest car in qualifying is that we had to live with the compromises that set-up brought on the Sunday. "On a single lap, the extra grip of fresh tires covers your aerodynamic deficits and you pay for that with higher tyre wear. on Sunday “Our goal must be to have the fastest car in the race."

Looking ahead, Binotto is under no illusions to the challenges Ferrari faces with the double load of the 2020 car to finish and completely new F1 regulations looming on 2021. “The coming season will be very difficult, very challenging — doing two projects in parallel is complicated. “We will start with the 2021 car soon, much earlier than we would have done in a normal year where we can take over large parts of the old car for the new season.

“That means more resources, more people and more money and only when we know what we can afford, will we be able to plan. “The 2020 car is almost done, but of course it will still take wind tunnel time over the winter. “So when the new season starts and we know where we stand relative to the other teams, we will then decide which project to prioritise.

"The new 2021 financial regulations are very complex — if we have to cut staff as I assume we must, it will be more difficult for us in Italy than in other countries. “We cannot just send people home, so we will probably switch some to the GT department or to the streetcars — we've hired a group dedicated to that task.

“But we have much to do - the next months will be exciting and we have a big year ahead and the next months will be exciting. We need to deliver a winning car for our fans,” Binotto concluded (Report by Michele Lupini)

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