Four months have passed since testing in Barcelona in February. In the meantime, there was no racing and the Formula 1 factories had to be closed for more than two months because of the corona virus. Despite that, both Red Bull and Mercedes say they are heading to Austria with a significant amount of updates for the first race of the season.
At Ferrari it is a different story. Only at the earliest at the third Grand Prix of the season, in Hungary, will they come up with new parts. “The car is identical to the car with which we would start the season in Australia. We have had to stay at home a lot in the past period and have therefore not been able to change anything about the car,” team boss Mattia Binotto told Sky Sports Italia.
A special story, since Mercedes and Red Bull have succeeded in getting upgrades ready for the start of the season. Binotto therefore doubts that his competition may come with updates, since they have been in the same situation and had to follow the same rules.
“For developments on the car you also have to use the wind tunnel, for example, but we were not able to use it. The rules stipulated that all teams had to stay at home during the shutdown, so I would be very surprised if other teams with updates at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. We all had to stop, so that means that no work was allowed, “said the Italian team boss Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc.
Will this be the year of Verstappen, or will Hamilton throw a spanner in the works? These and other questions are discussed in detail in the latest podcast of RacingNews365 with F1 journalist Ruud Dimmers, race car driver Tom Coronel and host Thomas van Groningen, which can be heard below.
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