Ferrari could not have won the F1 world title this year with the SF90 admits the Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto – Ferrari had a complicated first half of the season and was unable to win any races until the Belgian Grand Prix.
Looking back, the Italian team manager admits that the SF90 was far from being the car capable of enabling Ferrari to win the world title this year in a rather damning admission.
“It’s true that we could have won more races, but to win the championship we needed a faster and more reliable car. ” Mattia Binotto told AMUS.
“We didn’t have any of that, but we’re not that far away. We still need to close the gap, and I think it is possible,
“We lacked aerodynamic load and it is the reference in Formula 1 today. We had an efficient car, but that was obviously not enough,
“We still don’t understand what happened between the winter tests and Melbourne. We have moved backwards and the others have improved. Then we found more aerodynamic support step by step. That was the secret” concludes Binotto.
One of the biggest updates of the 2019 season for Ferrari was the package introduced at the Singapore Grand Prix, but Mattia Binotto points out that this was not the most important part of their improved performance.
“The Singapore package was the most important, but not the only, component. In addition, there is a better understanding of the balance of our car. Singapore provided us with the additional support load that was important to improve speeds in the corners.” says Binotto.
“After that, we didn’t have the fastest car, and that was very clear in the race. Our straight line advantage was reduced, but we were able to reduce our disadvantage in the corners from half a second to two tenths.
“On a single lap[in qualifying] the extra grip of the new tyres covered the aerodynamic deficits, but it was paid for on Sunday with more tyre wear. Our goal should be to have the fastest car in the race.” concludes the Italian.
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