Rumours have it that by trying to copy Red Bull, now the Ferrari F1 challenger for 2020 has fallen far behind in the development.

Sky Sports columnist Leo Turrini, considered one of the leading experts on Formula One and the Ferrari scuderia, said a week ago that the scuderia Ferrari was facing enormous difficulties in developing its new car.

The new car is, according to Turrini, “aerodynamically” poorly designed.

 

Other sources such as Matteo Bobbi, a former Minardi test driver, seem to concur with this rumour, therefore, gaining some extra credibility to the story.

Ferrari, which clearly had the best car on the grid in the second half of the 2019 season, decided not to just improve the SF90, but to create a new car for the 2020 season.

A decision which could be explained by the various challenges (aka ‘clarifications’) carried out jointly by Red Bull and Mercedes against its powertrain leading to the implementation of two technical directives validated by the FIA at the end of last year.

This had the effect of reducing the SF90’s performance in the last Grand Prix. In order to remedy this problem for the 2020 season, Ferrari has taken the bold decision to improve the design of its new chassis by using some of Red Bull’s specific features.

The engineers working on the car planned for 2020 were confronted with numerous aerodynamic problems caused, among other things, according to the German magazine Auto Bild, by a badly designed front wing.

When asked about this, former designer Gary Anderson explained:

“Sometimes it can happen that one little thing can cause a chain reaction all over the car. This can be very serious and very difficult to solve.

“At the moment, Ferrari has decided that in case the problems cannot be solved, they will develop a second car like Mercedes did in 2019.” says the former Jordan GP and Mclaren designer.

 

Former Minardi driver and regular pundit on Sky Italia seems to concur saying:

“It is rumoured that Ferrari, like Mercedes last year, could bring two versions of the car to the tests,” he said.

“In the first week, the basic version at the aerodynamic level can put the puzzle of reliability together, and in the second week we should see the final version which is very close to the one they will take to Melbourne.

“It’s in line with the strategy Mercedes used last year,”

 

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