Sebastian Vettel complained about his new Ferrari F1, which lagged behind the rivals on the straight line during pre-season testing in Barcelona.
Vettel thinks that the new F1000 was “a bit draggy” compared to last car and the rivals.
Vettel completed 144 laps during the testing and completed his allowed testing time for 2020. On Thursday, during the final run he also set the fastest lap of the day.
But Vettel could not compete the time set by his rival team Mercedes. He was a second slower than the time set by Valterri Bottas.
Ferrari remained shy through-out the testing and claimed to stuck behind Mercedes and Red Bull but was able to top the board on Thursday.
Vettel on Downforce
This year team have been focusing more on its ability at the corners rather than straight line about which Vettel have complained. Its drivers have struggled at corners last year which pushed the team to change focus.
Vettel said, “We can feel the car is better, I think sector three feels better,”
“We also know that it does come with a trade. We still have some work to do, we are slower than we want down the straights because we are a bit draggy.”
He added: “We are aware of that, but the objective was to put more down-force on the car which I think we did.
“Sector three does feel better, but obviously getting out of sector three and down to Turn 1 doesn’t feel as good as last year.
“Certainly in the corners is where you feel the difference, and where we improved, but it looks like others are even a bit faster.”
Vettel also provided the insight to the decision making. He said it was to help Ferrari’s overall race performance with the help of down-force.
The team manged to take most pole position but could not won more than three races.
“We worked very hard over winter, and I think our car is a step forward,” said Vettel.
“Currently it does come with some more drag, but we are aware.
“We are pushing as hard as we can to get rid of the drag and make it more efficient. But we also believe that come race day, it gives us an advantage the way it is set up now, so we will see.
“It will be key to develop the car, especially since it seems that we’re not the very fastest right now.”
