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Ferrari plans small aero update for British GP
Ferrari will bring what it describes as a "small" aerodynamic update to the British Grand Prix this weekend as it seeks to unlock more performance from its car.
Despite strong pre-season performance and having the quickest car in Bahrain, Ferrari slipped back from Mercedes in the opening few races, in part due to aerodynamic weaknesses. Significant work took place ahead of the French Grand Prix that team principal Mattia Binotto said resulted in some progress, and after being quick enough to secure pole position in Austria, there will be more developments introduced at Silverstone this weekend.
“We do not expect Silverstone to suit our car particularly well, but at every race, we have seen that the balance of power can change, often unexpectedly," he said. "For the British Grand Prix we are bringing a further small aerodynamic modification as we continue to push hard on the development of our car.
“The weekend will also be an opportunity to increase our understanding of the recent work we did, which has seen us close the gap to our competitors on specific types of track.”
As well as its aerodynamic shortcomings, Ferrari is one of several teams to have struggled with Pirelli's 2019 tires, and Binotto says it is disappointing the teams could not agree on changing back to the 2018 tires in order to reduce Mercedes’ advantage.
“Obviously it has been a good battle," he said. "Normally you have good battles when you do not have a car which is overperforming. (Austria was) great in that respect. I think we missed a great opportunity on (the tires) decision. I think as the entire F1 we should have done something.
“I think sometimes we are discussing and not acting. I still feel really ashamed we didn’t change the specification of the tires for the rest of the season as that would have been a great opportunity to close somehow the field.”
Presented by:
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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