Sebastian Vettel completed this fifth day of Formula 1 pre-season testing at the top of the timesheet on Thursday at Barcelona. The German racking up 144 laps as he set the fastest time of the day.
However, the four-time world champion Vettel has said Ferrari’s 2020 SF1000 F1 car is “a little flat” making it to trail its rivals for straightline speed through five days pre-season testing.
“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 little flat.” Vettel said.
“We are aware of that, but the objective was to put more downforce 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 added.
The Italian manufacturer continues to announce that their new F1 car is not yet living up to its expectations and the lap times achieved during the first days at Barcelona seem to confirm this trend.
“This was a good day in terms of the number of laps we managed to do, as well as for the fact that we got through the programme we had set ourselves. Having said that, I don’t think today’s times mean much, because, out of the five days of testing we have done here so far, today’s track conditions were definitely the worst.” Vettel said.
“The overnight rain had washed away all the rubber put down on previous days and, on top of that, the wind got much stronger right from early morning, making it harder to drive. I think we have done a good job, concentrating mainly on what we had to do, without thinking too much about lap times.
“We won’t really get a clear picture until Melbourne, but maybe not even there, given that the track is pretty unique. Overall, I’m pleased with the way testing went.” he added.
