Head of Ferrari Scuderia Mattia Binotto, commenting on the results of the fifth day of the pre-season tests, reiterated that while the new SF1000 is not fast enough, although the engineers managed to increase the speed of the car in the corners.
Mattia Binotto: “We are increasingly understanding the features of the machine, and judging by the first days of the tests, you cannot say that we are fast enough. Today we conducted an imitation of the race and also came to the conclusion that our car is not the fastest.
But there is a very long season ahead, so let’s first finish the tests, including see tomorrow how we look on the general background. Of course, we have already identified those areas that need to be focused on during the development of the SF1000.
If you compare its speed with the characteristics of last year’s car, then it’s clear that it copes with cornering much better, but it’s not so fast on straight lines. But I guess we know what to expect from her. I must admit that while we are not competitive enough to claim victory in the first stage of the season.
Today, during the simulation of the race for Mercedes Lewis Hamilton, a problem arose, but in the initial segment he showed an impressive pace, so I can honestly say that we are not trying to hide our true speed.
I also believe that the Racing Point team is at least close to us in speed, which is not too surprising, just look at how their car looks. To some extent, they pose a threat to us, but Ferrari is a strong enough team, we can carry out the modernization of the car efficiently enough, and I have no doubt that we will become stronger so as not to be afraid of threats from our opponents in the future. ”
When Binotto was asked how close Ferrari was to renewing the contract with Sebastian Vettel, the head of Scuderia replied: “We just recently started discussing this, and in my opinion, he is completely calm. Just yesterday, Sebastian said that now the priority is to achieve efficient operation of the machine. But, in my opinion, we understand each other well, we understand that we have common goals, and will soon be able to agree on everything. ”
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