2020 SEASON PREVIEW
54 GP RACING MARCH 2020
THE QUESTION NOW IS:what will happen
to Vettel?Theanswer must be delivered by
Vettel himself, buthe wi ll have to lick thestam p
within the first eight races of the new season.
In Maranello theteam management will decide
the identity ofthe driver who will sit alongside
Leclerc from 2021onwards nolater than June.
If Vettel has anexcellent start to theseason,
and canconfirm heis as fa st or even faster than
Leclerc,then hecan sit at thenegotiating table
andaskforanextensionofthe currentstatus (and
salary). But theopposite isalso possible:ifwe see
again the fragile,accident-proneVettel, and hear
yet more talkabout the car notsuiting hisdriving
style, then Ferrariis li kely to open the bidding
with a salary reduction and thecontractual
enshrining of Sebin a support role for Leclerc.
The alternative isthe en d of his relationship
with Ferrari after six seasons, andthe en d of
his project toemulate the success of MichaelSchumacher. Should this scenarioeventuate
it will have a significant bearing on Vettel’s
approach within the team during the second
half of the season; whether or not he is the one
deciding that this is hislast season in red,
he is hardly likely to respectteam orders.
This hypothetical scenario takes for granted
that Leclerc will be able to confirm himself in
the first-driver role, butthere ’s nothing today
that suggests this won’t happen. Obviously
the track will issue its own verdicts, and at
the moment Ferrari is waitingfor that before
making decisions.
Maranello’s policy on first and second
drivers is stillunclear. Normally having very
defined roles is an advantage when a team
is sure it has a car capable of fightingfor the
world championship. But if a team is still
labouring to reduce a performance gap to its
frontrunning rivals, the engineers cannot count
on the feedback from two topdrivers who may
be working against one another. If Maranello’s
decision is to replace Vettel, the names to contact
have long been known: Valtteri Bottas, Daniel
Ricciardo, Antonio Giovinazzi or Carlos Sainz.VETTEL HAS EIGHT
RACES TO DEFINE
HIS FUTUREAT THE END OF THE 2019 SEASONMattia
Binotto was clear about the strengths and
weaknesses of the SF90 project, and on what
the 2020 car goals will be. In Maranello the
engineers have been working for many months
to look for the downforce that was absent at
critical periods during the 2019 season. Last
year it was clear the lack of downforce penalised
not only the lap times on the more technical
tracks, but also had a negative effect on tyre
management which led to underperformance in
races. According to Binotto, this hasn’t meant a
total rethink – the development of theconcepts
introduced in 2019 will continue – but the goal
is to maximisethe number of tracks on which
it’s possible to fight for victory, even at the cost
of sacrificing top speed, which was theweapon
Ferrari relied upon lastseas on.
The increased downforce target announced by
Binotto will be most anxiously awaited by Vettel,
whose confidence was sapped by the flighty rear
end of the S F90. Without a stable andwell-
planted rear axle he is unable togive h is best,
and he only got that withthe u pgrade package
applied in Singapore. This season he will need
it from the very start.
Downforce alone, though, won’t make a
winning car. A last step forward will be required
in terms ofpower-unit reliability, considering
that last season Leclerc had to use a fourth
ICE unit as well aslosing victory in thesecond
round to a cylinder problem. An efficient and
productive in-season development programme
will also be necessary, for this is a weapon
which has made the difference in the last few
championship run-ins – and almost always in
favour of Mercedes. Ferrari cannot afford to lose
momentum with upgrades which don’t work, and
Binotto is known to have pushed very hard to
ensure the team gets it right more often.
In Maranello massive investment has gone
into the simulator to improve the correlation
between virtual research and the track. On
more than one occasion last season, FerrariFERRARI NEEDS
TO SHARPEN
ITS OWN AXEIt’smake-or-break
timeforVettelif
hewantstoremain
topdogatFerrariPICTURES:JOEPORTLOCK;MARKSUTTON2020 SEASON PREVIEW
54 GP RACING MARCH 2020
THE QUESTION NOW IS:what will happen
to Vettel?Theanswer must be delivered by
Vettel himself, buthe wi ll have to lick thestam p
within the first eight races of the new season.
In Maranello theteam management will decide
the identity ofthe driver who will sit alongside
Leclerc from 2021onwards nolater than June.
If Vettel has anexcellent start to theseason,
and canconfirm heis as fa st or even faster than
Leclerc,then hecan sit at thenegotiating table
andaskforanextensionofthe currentstatus (and
salary). But theopposite isalso possible:ifwe see
again the fragile,accident-proneVettel, and hear
yet more talkabout the car notsuiting hisdriving
style, then Ferrariis li kely to open the bidding
with a salary reduction and thecontractual
enshrining of Sebin a support role for Leclerc.
The alternative isthe en d of his relationship
with Ferrari after six seasons, andthe en d of
his project toemulate the success of MichaelSchumacher. Should this scenarioeventuate
it will have a significant bearing on Vettel’s
approach within the team during the second
half of the season; whether or not he is the one
deciding that this is hislast season in red,
he is hardly likely to respectteam orders.
This hypothetical scenario takes for granted
that Leclerc will be able to confirm himself in
the first-driver role, butthere ’s nothing today
that suggests this won’t happen. Obviously
the track will issue its own verdicts, and at
the moment Ferrari is waitingfor that before
making decisions.
Maranello’s policy on first and second
drivers is stillunclear. Normally having very
defined roles is an advantage when a team
is sure it has a car capable of fightingfor the
world championship. But if a team is still
labouring to reduce a performance gap to its
frontrunning rivals, the engineers cannot count
on the feedback from two topdrivers who may
be working against one another. If Maranello’s
decision is to replace Vettel, the names to contact
have long been known: Valtteri Bottas, Daniel
Ricciardo, Antonio Giovinazzi or Carlos Sainz.VETTEL HAS EIGHT
RACES TO DEFINE
HIS FUTUREAT THE END OF THE 2019 SEASONMattia
Binotto was clear about the strengths and
weaknesses of the SF90 project, and on what
the 2020 car goals will be. In Maranello the
engineers have been working for many months
to look for the downforce that was absent at
critical periods during the 2019 season. Last
year it was clear the lack of downforce penalised
not only the lap times on the more technical
tracks, but also had a negative effect on tyre
management which led to underperformance in
races. According to Binotto, this hasn’t meant a
total rethink – the development of theconcepts
introduced in 2019 will continue – but the goal
is to maximisethe number of tracks on which
it’s possible to fight for victory, even at the cost
of sacrificing top speed, which was theweapon
Ferrari relied upon lastseas on.
The increased downforce target announced by
Binotto will be most anxiously awaited by Vettel,
whose confidence was sapped by the flighty rear
end of the S F90. Without a stable andwell-
planted rear axle he is unable togive h is best,
and he only got that withthe u pgrade package
applied in Singapore. This season he will need
it from the very start.
Downforce alone, though, won’t make a
winning car. A last step forward will be required
in terms ofpower-unit reliability, considering
that last season Leclerc had to use a fourth
ICE unit as well aslosing victory in thesecond
round to a cylinder problem. An efficient and
productive in-season development programme
will also be necessary, for this is a weapon
which has made the difference in the last few
championship run-ins – and almost always in
favour of Mercedes. Ferrari cannot afford to lose
momentum with upgrades which don’t work, and
Binotto is known to have pushed very hard to
ensure the team gets it right more often.
In Maranello massive investment has gone
into the simulator to improve the correlation
between virtual research and the track. On
more than one occasion last season, FerrariFERRARI NEEDS
TO SHARPEN
ITS OWN AXEIt’smake-or-break
timeforVettelif
hewantstoremain
topdogatFerrariPICTURES:JOEPORTLOCK;MARKSUTTON