Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Sochi Autodrom, 2019

Ferrari’s summer breakthrough: Why the team believes its SF90 concept has been vindicated

2019 F1 season

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Since Formula 1’s summer break ended, the Ferrari SF90 has looked like a different car, and its results have been similarly transformed.

At first it seemed this might be down to a quirk of track configuration. The car had always looked good on tracks with plenty of straights where it could unleash the prancing horses, and fewer corners to expose its grip deficit.

So when Ferrari finally took their breakthrough 2019 victory at the 13th time of asking at Spa, and followed that up by painting Monza red for good measure, it seemed no great cause for alarm among its rivals.

Then came the shock of Singapore. Before the weekend began a repeat of Ferrari’s dire Hungaroring performance, where Lewis Hamilton put over a minute on them, seemed realistic. But they took the lead and controlled the race from the start.

In Sochi the team – or, to be specific, Charles Leclerc – grabbed their fourth consecutive pole position. That’s more than they managed in the 12 races before the factory shutdown. Four pole positions in a row across a fairly broad range of circuits indicates the team has finally untapped the raw potential of its 2019 chassis.

As covered here previously, while pre-season testing flattered Ferrari’s performance relative to Mercedes, it nonetheless appeared the team’s design philosophy had constrained the potential of their car. Among the car’s most distinctive features is its ‘inboard loaded’ front wing, which visibly deviates from the approach preferred by the likes of Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Singapore, 2019
Ferrari stunned their rivals in Singapore
However in Russia team principal Mattia Binotto said the team’s recent progress vindicates its design philosophy. “On the front wing, I think that someone are copying us at the moment more than us the others,” he noted. McLaren is one team which has adopted a similar style front wing to Ferrari’s since the season began.

What’s more, with little changing in the technical regulations for 2020, Binotto is confident enough in the team’s direction to assert next year’s Ferrari “will be a development of the current one.”

Early in the season it seemed Ferrari’s aerodynamically efficient car platform was losing out in sheer performance to the raw downforce Mercedes were able to extract from their W10, particularly when it came to the ever-present necessity of optimising F1’s fickle Pirelli tyre compounds. Again, Binotto believes their recent success has shown his team is on the right path.

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“Drag or efficiency? I think obviously to develop an efficient car is always important for fuel economy, for speed – I don’t think it’s a completely wrong or bad concept.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Bahrain International Circuit, 2019
Ferrari could have won the second race
Binotto also pointed out, persuasively, that Ferrari’s failure to win races in the first part of 2019 was not simply due to a lack of performance.

“If you look at the season, if we count the missed opportunities and the victories, I don’t think we are on the wrong side of the sum and of the balance.

“So I think there have been other reasons why this season we have not performed as expected which is not only the car concept. But by the time that the weaknesses are addressed I think we can be quite competitive and the last races have shown it.”

He’s not wrong. Ferrari had a car quick enough to win in Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Canada and Austria. That they didn’t was not due to lack of performance but a combination of driver errors, team errors and car failures. Had those four races flipped for Ferrari instead of Mercedes (thrice) and Red Bull – plus another likely win in Sochi lost to a power unit failure – Ferrari would be a much more credible threat to Mercedes in this year’s championship fight.

Significantly, Binotto indicated the team’s gains haven’t simply come from the visible aero developments they have made since the Spanish Grand Prix, where the car’s shortfalls in downforce and slow-corner grip were exposed.

“We put a lot of effort internally first in terms of performance assessment to try to understand what were the weaknesses of the car, the behaviours of the tyres and tried to set a direction of development,” said Binotto.

“Obviously that direction of development has been continuous. I have to say because of this not only in Singapore that [we] brought some parts but we brought [some] earlier as well in the season in other races. What we achieved in Singapore has been the sum of everything.

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“It’s not only aero. Certainly with the aero we have addressed one of the weaknesses we’ve got. But I think has been coming through as well a good understanding of the car, finding the right compromise on the balance and the set-up. And I think it’s altogether really car understanding, set-up that and aero that moved forward.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Sochi Autodrom, 2019
Ferrari are ending the year in strong shape
Unfortunately for Ferrari, this has almost certainly come too late for either of the championships to be salvaged. But it does indicate the team is, at this early stage, in good shape for next season.

“Whatever you are doing on the current car, being that the regulations are the same next year [it] will be certainly of interest. I think whatever you are building on this season in terms of overall understanding will be key for next year as well.

“So that’s I think we are still focussing or putting effort on 2019 not only because we are seeking for victories but because we know that a good understanding of the overall car performance in this season will be to the benefit of next season.”

In this respect, the team’s form at this stage of the season will be a wake-up call for their rivals. Having started 2017 and 2018 strongly, Ferrari didn’t end either championship particularly well. In 2017 they scored just one win after the summer break, and two last year. Since their summer breakthrough, Ferrari have won three from four in 2019 so far.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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51 comments on “Ferrari’s summer breakthrough: Why the team believes its SF90 concept has been vindicated”

  1. Yes, the car turned good Binotto, but you can’t gloss over the fact that you have a lot of problems in other areas.

    For a start, what happened at the start of the Sochi race and developed over the subsequent laps isn’t going to go away soon. I would not be surprised to see further developments in that area.

    1. you’re exaggerating. the problem this season has been the car. even in Sochi, without the DNF, Ferrari would have come 1st and 2nd.

      1. @nickthegreek Remind me please, how many points for finishing “What if?”

    2. Deciding which car you want to have in the lead is a good problem to have.

    3. So has Ferrari admitted to burning oil to aid their engine combustion, or are we, the gullible public, to take them at their word on the wonders of their latest design?

      What do they take us for?

      1. If they were burning oil in excess of the allowable rate, you can bet that Mercedes would be lobbying to have Ferrari reprimanded. That this isn’t happening suggests it’s either not an issue, or everybody is doing it and they’re all keeping quiet about the other teams, lest they get found out themselves.

  2. I’ve been watching F1 since 2009 and this is the first and only year i can recall that Ferrari actually improoved their car over the season, instead of fading backwards.

    But i wouldn’t be surprised if they sort out next year’s car from the beginning and win the title, only to invest less time in the post-2021 car, making them having to catch up again year after year after another rule change…

    1. True, I cannot remember a season where Ferrari were poor at start of the season and then improved to #1 car status.

      But even last few years they started the season strong and then trailed off. This year they started with underlying aero problem. Now when it’s fixed boom! pole after pole.

      Now they just need to fix their driver and strategy situation if they want any titles next year. Also Mercedes might be gearing for next year already and will dominate easily through next year.

      As for 2021, it is anybody’s guess. I wouldn’t put my money on Ferrari, but I wouldn’t put it against them either. It is far more likely Mercedes will do it again.

      Only time Mercedes will loose a tile is when Hamilton starts to decline with age and they are stuck with older #1 and poor #2. Then they will be vulnerable.

      1. 2006 vs renault.

    2. @black 2012 comes to mind as the closest thing. I cant remember exact stats but I think at the start of the year they were around 1.5 seconds off the pace in qualy (always closer in race trim), but they did manage to develop that car into somewhat of a championship contender. Albeit, mostly based on consistency rather than raw speed.

    3. @black Did they really improve the car though? Perhaps it’s more like they finally can structurally get the performance out of the car which in essence it has always had. As was demonstrated during the winter tests.

      They did not improve the car that much to go from Hungary to Singapore with that difference in performance. It’s clearly more an issue that they managed to set the car up correctly (by better understanding) and/or getting the tyres in the “window” for maximum performance.

    4. I think they’ve been given the green light to use whatever short cuts they want so long as the maintain the illusion of being competitive.

      As long as they keep doing this they will never be truly competitive. Once again burning oil is no answer to good design, it’s just a self deluding con.

  3. I do wonder if Mercedes haven’t switched more resources to next years car already over the summer break to be honest. Red Bull have just thrown races away chasing glory in Japan since the break.

    1. @slowmo absolute nail on he head. Mercedes have brought next to zero upgrades, I don’t know why publications keep conveniently glossing over this fact.

      Simply put Mercedes are riding competitively purely down to Lewis Hamilton alone because the development focus is fully on next years car. That Merc should be coming 3rd or lower in every race but Lewis is a difference maker.

      1. That Merc should be coming 3rd or lower in every race but Lewis is a difference maker.

        Yeah, right….. HAM is one of the greats now for sure, but there’re some other drivers out there that would make pretty much the same job. Some – VER, maybe even more than HAM. BOT, just a 2nd tier driver, still is like 35points ahead of the next driver, and he did not win anything this year! So, yeah, Mercedes was the strongest car, still is a very strong car.

        1. BOT, just a 2nd tier driver, still is like 35points ahead of the next driver, and he did not win anything this year! So, yeah, Mercedes was the strongest car, still is a very strong car.

          Bottas banked his points early when the Merc WAS the fastest car. That’s why he’s clinging on to 2nd in the WDC.

          VER, maybe even more than HAM

          Nope. Spa showed as much as he’s matured this year he has not got the consistency that a mature Lewis Hamilton does.

          1. By that logic, Lewis hasn’t escaped 2011 because he crashed in Germany.

          2. @repete86

            Hamilton made a huge mistake and crashed in Germany. That’s one event out of 16. In 2011, by this stage, Hamilton had already had several clashes with Massa. Verstappen, in just the last 4 events has crashed twice, which has meant that Albon- since Belgium has “outscored” Max Verstappen despite not being on his pace. And you (as well as @mg1982) want to tell us that 2019 Hamilton would be trailing 2019 Verstappen? That’s a good one. I have no doubt Verstappen could rival Hamilton speed wise- but in every other way, Hamilton is the more complete driver. If Albon can score more points than Verstappen after 4 races, I am sure Lewis would easily manage it after 16 based on better race IQ and speed.

        2. @mg1982 Hamilton showed in 2018 what makes him so great. Ferrari had the faster car, but their drivers (and especially Vettel) failed terribly. While Hamilton kept performing at almost the maximum what you can expect.

          Driving the fastest car gives you an easy win? How Ferrari winning in Baku 2018? Or Germany 2018, or Hungary? Or Monza?

          Same claim is made by Verstappen fans, but did Verstappen win in China 2018? Monaco 2018? Brazil 2018?

          Both Vettel and Verstappen have made plenty of bad errors in 2019 too.

          So neither of them have shown that they would even remotely be able to perform at the level of performance AND consistency which Hamilton performs at.

          1. To be fair, Max was going to win in Brazil before a lapped car got too ambitious.

          2. @repete86

            Max was going to win in Brazil before a lapped car got too ambitious.

            Or before Max decided (as he so often does) not to use his head- and not fight Ocon when he didn’t need to. Sure, the stewards found Ocon to be in the wrong- but that incident was avoidable and had Max just played his percentages better- he would have emerged victorious and not given Hamilton an open goal.

            That is exactly the reason why Daniel Ricciardo beat Max Verstappen during their time as team mates despite not having his outright speed.

            History teaches us that F1 is more than just outright pace.

          3. @mg1982 Hamilton showed in 2018 what makes him so great. Ferrari had the faster car, but their drivers (and especially Vettel) failed terribly. While Hamilton kept performing at almost the maximum what you can expect.

            Driving the fastest car gives you an easy win? How Ferrari winning in Baku 2018? Or Germany 2018, or Hungary? Or Monza?

            @f1osaurus very well said.

      2. Even without upgrades Mercedes is still the quicker car in race trim.
        It could have won the three races Ferrari won if they only had track position., as they pushed Ferrari on every single one of those. Even in Russia Hamilton’s pace was strong on the harder compound to make this difficult for Ferrari.

        They aren’t favourites for the remaining races, but they can easily win most of them, it’s not that difficult.

        1. It could have won the three races Ferrari won if they only had track position., as they pushed Ferrari on every single one of those. Even in Russia Hamilton’s pace was strong on the harder compound to make this difficult for Ferrari.

          That isn’t the cars inherent race pace that’s Lewis being a superior driver to both the Ferrari boys.

      3. Or maybe Merc had a massive margin to begin with. They are now managing it to get home with minimum effort and risk to reliability. Remember Melbourne? The one race where their position was unclear (following winter testing), so they turn it all up to 10. They absolutely smoked the competition and revealed their hand doing so. From then they’ve been turning performance down. Why run faster than necessary?

        The Merc shouldn’t be coming 3rd, it should be winning every race. It’s just not worth the risk. Cute though that you credit Lewis…

        1. @asherway cute how you think you have any concept of the relative speed of each car and completely ignore the part where the Ferrari boss said they are pushing development forward at maximum pace because next years car will be an evolution (evidenced by upgrades at every race) and Mercedes have admitted they aren’t doing that (evidenced by 1 HEAVE SPRING UPGRADE in the last 3 races)

          Sit down.

    2. Perhaps, but next year’s regulations are the same, so any improvements on the current car should carry over unless they are looking at some radical changes

      1. @pastaman except maybe 2015-2016, Merc have pretty radically changed their concept without relation to the relevant rule changes (Halo, front wing etc) – they just think different and never rest on their laurels. This years car is arguable their first shift into more of the Red Bull ultra high downforce philisophy, probably seeing how the Ferrari PU has overtaken them. Next year they may be looking to readdress that balance. Either way now James Allison has his feet firmly under the table there and theyve finally banished their tyre issues I do think they’ll still win the WCC next year.

        1. Wait, the Ferrari PU has overtaken the Merc? I assume you’re factoring in reliability? Driveability? Efficiency? Surely you’re not just talking about straight line speed in an efficiency formula??

          1. Think you’re watching WEC pal. 18kph on the straights is very much a superior PU but keep searching, you’ll hit upon a valid excuse at some point maybe.

  4. History will look back that Hamilton and Mercedes “dominated” 2017, 2018 and 2019, but in each of those seasons, Ferrari have equally managed to embarrass itself through a multitude of errors whether it be developmental, driver-related or strategy.

    1. Imagine this year Ferrari only had Vettel and Kimi. Usually Hamilton would get a pole and subsequent win.

      It is really Leclerc that is disrupting Mercedes domination.

      1. Still doesn’t mean in 2017 and 2018 things would have been the same.

        1. @mg1982 If Ferrari had had a proper driver in 2017 and 2018 they would have had two WDC’s at least and probably 2 WCC’s too.

          1. 2017 not really, Ferrari suffered when they ran their engines hard
            When they were ahead of Merc it was a small margin, but when Merc were ahead they flew away
            2018,it was more balanced
            2019,Merc dominated
            2020,I suspect Merc are already developing that car while Ferrari catch up this year

  5. I think those who have to be most concerned about the current Ferrari form are really Red Bull, as not only does it likely stop them getting 2nd in the WDC (let alone WCC, but there they can also point to Gasly, and switch to Albon late in the season), but since Red Bull have had a lot of seasons where they ended the season strongly, only to be weak again once the next one started, if Ferrari don’t, then the 2020 plan to challenge for WDC with a strong Honda might well be in need of serious revision. In fact, probably best for them to do that revising, can’t hurt, the worst would be they blast everyone else away, rather than being competing for wins ;-)

    1. the 2020 plan to challenge for WDC with a strong Honda

      @bosyber did the team say that or was it metaphoric? I think 2021 at the earliest would be more realistic.

      1. I am not 100% sure they (maybe Verstappen, and it was hope?) said it like that @spoutnik, but, they have indicated earlier in the year, before the current slump after the break that they intend to be competitive then, because they expect(ed) to be strong again in the latter half of the (ie. this) year, and with no changes to the rules, that would indicate a strong continuation into 2020 as well. Waiting for 2021 might be more realistic, but also might make dr. Marko, and Verstappen, fidgety.

        1. Though on the realistic front: realism says that with the last three changes of rules (this season, 2017, and 2014) they didn’t exactly start the season with a stellar record, getting the balance of downforce vs. drag wrong or having aero issues to fix before the car came good, so why wait a season for 2021 only to risk that?

  6. And no mention of oil burning shenanigans…

  7. I’m pretty sure Ferrari have done this kind of thing before – i.e. prioritised late-season development at the cost of next year’s car.

    Are Mercedes playing the points game? There are only 5 races left and a they have a healthy lead in both championships. They could probably afford to slow down development on this year’s car.

  8. I suspect one of the major factors is that Binotto has managed to keep the team focussed instead of allowing their usual “we have to change everything” that they’ve been prone to do in seasons past when the car hasn’t performed.

    Yes they’re bringing upgrades but they’re not massively changing a whole lot of parts simultaneously. I remember a couple of years ago when they changed things at the front, rear and floor all at once and had no real hope of being able to determine what worked and what didn’t.

    He’s managed to stop the panic and methodically brought in developments that have improved the car dramatically.

    If they can now just get on top of their on track management and strategy so they become the sort of we’ll oiled machine we see at Mercedes, things will be looking great for 2020.

    1. @dbradock – good point

  9. @jureo Very good point. Leclerc is a class act.

    1. ..sorry. Don’t know why it appeared here

  10. Binotto is wrong, is it a play?

  11. Maybe because Ferrari has the best car now.

  12. It’s really hard to ignore, or extract, the element of driver performance. If this were a season with two Hamiltons at MB and two Vettels at Ferrari, we would not be talking about vindication of in-wash wings, but probably again about MB’s continued technical dominance.

    This is why I really like this season compared to some recent ones. We see some ebb and flow of performance across the cars by driver and race. We see Leclerc emerging as a singular talent and Hamilton having to raise his game to confront him, in the process leaving his teammate in the dust. And yes, there is an underlying technical story, but it complements the driver story to me.

  13. @dmw COTY, i have said it many times people would be moaning like crazy if Vettel and Kimi was in Ferrari, saying lucky Hamilton again never has no challenge, well Leclerc mainly has shown what a good car and missed oppertunities Ferrari actually have had, and he has more pole positions. I hope Leclerc wins every race with Lewis second it would be beautiful. Ham would win the WC by like 70 points plus and near enough same wins with all the near misses Ferrari has had aswell. Hamilton’s race pace this year has been next level good, his qually as been very strong aswell, he even beats Vettel in the last few races.

    Vettel has become an embarassment considering his stats and he is younger than Hamilton. Hamilton, Leclerc and Ves our the 3 benchmarks in F1. It is lovely being proved right how unbelievable Ferrari were last season, Vettel beating Hamilton in qually and races and choking a title away proves that and these last few races Vettel has had an even better car and he cannot even get on the front row needs to rely on the biggest advantage since 2014-2015 to get past on the straights, even then he as only done it once look at him in Monza lol haha.

  14. All drivers can be beat Hamilton has been beat twice, but i never looked at them seasons and went wow Lewis is just plain slower than the other guy. Will be Vettel’s second year he as been beat and looked genuinely slower, Ricciardo won 3 races the year they were teammates, Vettel won zero. And this year it took a crazy event for him to win a race in a car that has the most poles, incredible really.

    What we do know Vettel likes older teammates he cannpot hack anyone near his age or younger. He will be 0-2 in new teammate battles, so basically the new guy comes straight into Mr 4xWC and shows him up haha

  15. Too bad for Ferrari that the pre-summer races also count towards the title.

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