F1 News
Will Ferrari bring two different versions of 2020 car to winter testing?
Matteo Bobbi, a former test driver Minardi, believes that Ferrari will bring two different cars to winter testing. Last year, Ferrari locked out the top of the timesheets in winter testing but those results didn't translate into reality when the green light came on in Australia.
In Barcelona 12 months ago, Mercedes took a different approach. The Silver Arrows took two different cars. In the first week, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton drove a basic version of the 2019 car, before shifting to the new final version in the second week of running.
The latest reports suggest that Ferrari will take Mercedes tactics from last year.
"It is rumoured that Ferrari, like Mercedes last year, could bring two versions of the car to the tests. In the final 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," Bobbi reported to Sky Italia.
Last year's problems?
Ferrari couldn't produce what they achieved in winter testing again. Of course, the other top teams may have been sandbagging, but there was a clear performance drop from the Italian team. Bobbi goes on to detail some of the potential reasons.
"There was also work on the engine. Not an increase in power which was already very good, but rather the efficiency. Last year the engine had a lot of power but it used a lot of fuel - more than Mercedes and Red Bull. But in general, I do not expect to see drastically different cars this season, because the rules are the same. Rather, I expect an evolution after these months of work," he added.