Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari lead driver, believes that the coming weeks are vital for the team. He asserted that the team must establish its position over the middle part of this year season.
Ferrari Formula 1 team’s performance asserted its high-end position over the Mercedes in pre-season testing. However, the latter managed to grasp the victories in all three grand prix with first and second positions.
Nico Rosberg, Ex Mercedes driver and 2016 world champion, suggested that Ferrari need to decide over its aerodynamics. Because it has compromised corners over the straight line speed, which resulted in its failure to crown a single race this season so far.
Vettel admitted nuisance with his car performance. He asserted that Ferrari must take final decisions regarding SF90 performance issues.
Vettel, who managed to find a position on podium after swapping with Leclerc in China, said: “We have a very strong car, there’s nothing wrong with it, but I think we’re not able to yet put it in the window.
“Especially for myself, here and there.
“I’m not entirely happy yet compared to where we started off.
“Obviously the three tracks we’ve been to now are quite different. The conditions we had are different.
“But I think we start to see a sort of pattern and – especially throughout a grand prix distance – understand what we need, what I need, to really unlock this car.
“These couple of weeks and the next weeks will be very important for us to understand where we need to go in the next months.”
Aerodynamic rules has influenced the decision to choose different wings. Those wings has influenced the performance of both competitors.
The Mercedes dominated in corners while Ferrari has an edge on straight lines but over-all performance accumulated to the victories of the former.
Mattia Binotto, Ferrari team principal, thinks that different circuits will provide different domination opportunities and the overall performance will fluctuate.
“Australia has been certainly an exception, where the difference was very, very high and very big,” he added.
“Otherwise I think between Barcelona [in pre-season testing], Bahrain, in China, the other difference was a few tenths.
“That’s what you expect between two cars which are both very strong and very similar in some respects.
“We know where the limits of our car are, and these limits might be emphasised in some circuits compared to others.
“The key will be to develop the car as such that we are making it even stronger in the future.”
