2020 Ferrari News

**stefa** · 22nd January 2020, 15:28

Originally Posted by wisepie

Happy 2020 stefa (we hope!) but I disagree about the white, I quite like the contrast as the matte red can look a bit dull and I've never been a fan of too much black, especially the Mission Winnow part. But who cares as long as the car is a winner?!

**vcs316** · 23rd January 2020, 04:39

Charles Leclerc gets two grandstands named after him

Charles Leclerc's quick rise from rookie to Ferrari star has been recognised by two circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, which have named grandstands after the 22-year-old.

Leclerc's native Monaco has renamed Grandstand K (pictured) between Turns 12 and 13, which overlooks the harbour just before the Piscine complex, which will now be known as the Grandstand Charles Leclerc.

Circuit Paul Ricard in France has followed suit and renamed its main grandstand along the start/finish straight after the Ferrari driver.

It's not unusual for circuits to name grandstands after local drivers, or those with a link to a circuit, such as Max Verstappen who not only has a grandstand named in his honour at the Red Bull Ring, but also at Spa-Francorchamps which prior to the return of the Dutch Grand Prix this season, acted as his home race for his thousands of fans.

**Brembo** · 23rd January 2020, 07:48

Is the German track shutting down in Seb's name ?

**Tony** · 24th January 2020, 17:10

That was just mean... lol....

**vcs316** · 26th January 2020, 07:23

Charles Leclerc “happy to wait” until 2021 for World Championship

Charles Leclerc has said that he is “happy to wait” until 2021 to win a Formula 1 World Championship with Ferrari but has “hope” for a challenge this year before the changes in regulations.

Leclerc enters his second season with Ferrari for 2020, only his third in F1 in total, off the back of an excellent year that saw him finish ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the standings, and claim two wins and seven pole positions.

The Scuderia were unable to mount a consistent challenge to Mercedes throughout 2019 but the 2020 season is expected to be a close battle with the Silver Arrows and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing.

Leclerc hopes for a title challenge the coming year but wants to be as ready as possible for 2021 when the budget cap and new car regulations come in.

“I hope in 2020 I can win the title, but I am happy to wait until 2021 if I have the title for sure,” he said at Autosport International 2020.

“It is going to be very difficult and I think 2020 will be a very important year when teams are going to invest a lot because the budget cap is coming in from 2021.

“I will try to be as ready as possible for 2021 as I think it will be a big year and hopefully we will be working properly as a team to build a right car to be able to win the championship.”

Leclerc reiterates his goal of becoming World Champion and believes he can do it with the ‘best team’ and bring them the success that has eluded them since the 2008 constructors title.

“The goal is always to target the highest possible so in case I fail to get there I only go a little bit below,” he explained.

“Basically, it is to be world champion which is very, very optimistic but I will always target very high.

“This is it and I will try to give everything to try to win. In the end I am driving, for me, the best team and I just want to give them what they deserve so it is up to me to do the job on the track.”

**vcs316** · 26th January 2020, 07:25

Ferrari to adopt Mercedes' 2019 strategy at winter testing

According to the Italian branch of Motorsport.com, Ferrari will essentially do what Mercedes did at winter testing in 2019 in a few weeks' time, with the Silver Arrows not impressing at the Circuit de Catalunya last year before turning up with a significantly quicker car in Melbourne.

Ferrari looked the quickest team last campaign in Barcelona and were even dubbed championship favourites by most, with their straight-line speed looking significantly better than any other team.

However, once the Australian Grand Prix rolled around some weeks later, it was Mercedes who were utterly dominant, locking out the front row in qualifying and winning the race in a one-two while Ferrari couldn't even get on the podium.

Franco Nugnes of Motorsport.com has reported Ferrari want to adopt a similar strategy to their rivals at winter testing; use an 'old' spec on the car for the first week of testing with a car that's just mechanically up-to-date to collect data and only bolt on the latest aerodynamic updates for the final three days of testing (February 27th-29th). This gives the engineers in Maranello an extra week to develop the 2020 challenger even more

The first week will therefore just be used to check for reliability and if everything is working the way it should mechanically. Don't expect them to light the timesheets on fire from February 19th-21st.

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/53820...-testing-.html

**wisepie** · 26th January 2020, 11:21

I feel this is positive news after the scare stories of the past few weeks over our 2020 car, let's pray that one of those specs will be able to start the season in a better fashion than last year. Letting Merc or RB to get an early lead in the standings will crush our hopes, again.

**Brembo** · 26th January 2020, 11:55

Ferrari's drivers have a whole seasons experience with the limitations of their 2019 cars. So if the 2020 cars are not much better , which i don't believe, they can use their driving expertise and experience from last season to get around the problems, esp. down force. There's no way the cars will not come out better this year. Just remember how great Charles did with what he had. Any real improvements will hopefully get him up there with Lewis.

**vcs316** · 26th January 2020, 12:00

Originally Posted by wisepie

I feel this is positive news after the scare stories of the past few weeks over our 2020 car, let's pray that one of those specs will be able to start the season in a better fashion than last year. Letting Merc or RB to get an early lead in the standings will crush our hopes, again.

We have to win Australia (first race) to have a shot at the WDC & WCC.

**vcs316** · 28th January 2020, 10:34

Vettel: Why 2020 will be a defining year for Ferrari’s ‘man of the people’

When we spoke during pre-season testing last year, Sebastian Vettel was in tremendous form. There was a glint in his eye, a cheekiness to his smile. The 2019 campaign was to be his fifth with Ferrari and, having driven his new car, which had initially appeared to be the one to beat, he was understandably excited about the season ahead, in a team that had charged him with bringing the world championship back to Maranello.

“I knew the role would be different,” said Vettel at that test, as we spoke in the room where he had just diligently fulfilled his pre-season photoshoot duties, of the task he had taken on with Ferrari starting in 2015. “Of course, driving would be the same; I always try to drive as fast as possible, but the role would be different – [I had] a clear mission to bring Ferrari back to the top.”

The German, a four-time world champion with Red Bull, has so far failed to complete that mission. Worse still, 12 months on, he’s no longer obviously the main man at Ferrari…

Vettel’s young team mate Charles Leclerc was highly-rated when he joined the Prancing Horse alongside the now 32-year-old last year, but few – including Vettel himself – expected him to have such a breakthrough season. Leclerc won two races to Vettel’s one. He scored more points than his more decorated team mate and took a stunning seven poles to Vettel’s haul of two.

Vettel hasn’t lost his speed. His superb pole position in Japan and ruthless drive to victory in Singapore are proof of that. He’s just struggled to deliver consistently, and increasingly cracks have shown with the smallest sign of pressure on track. Leclerc’s huge talent has applied that pressure more consistently than Kimi Raikkonen ever managed during Vettel’s time at Ferrari. As a result, the mistakes have kept on coming.

From his crash when leading at a wet Hockenheim in 2018 to his collision with Leclerc at the penultimate race of 2019 in Brazil, which put both drivers out, you could argue that Vettel – after the tumult of the last 18 months – needed this recent winter break the most.

Of course, people have been quick to retire him. But the man himself doesn’t care.

“I heard before I’m stopping,” he said with a smile at his final press conference of the year in Abu Dhabi. “I don’t who was the one [who said it], they seem to know more than me!”

No, he isn’t interested in throwing the towel in just yet. But then again, it might not be up to him. His contract expires at the end of the year and without a reversal of form, Ferrari might find it tough to keep him on. And if there’s no opening at Ferrari, Vettel doesn’t strike you as someone likely to do a Raikkonen and take up a seat lower down the field; he seems more like a big fish that isn’t up for swimming in a small pond. He wants to add more titles to his impressive resume – and if that isn’t possible, you get the impression he’d likely happily leave.

Ferrari is where he wants to be. It’s unfinished business. But what do Ferrari want? Their chief Mattia Binotto said last month Vettel is “central to our project” and a “key driver of us”.

But he also said: “We need to see [his] performance and how he fits with the car and his motivation for the future. It’s not about his mistakes or not. It’s really a matter of how he does see himself as far as his future and how we… see our line-up.”

The 2020 season – particularly the opening half of the campaign, as it’s not Ferrari’s style to announce their complete line-up late in the year – is huge. It would be no understatement to say he’s fighting for his career.

Vettel is well-liked within the team. You often see him hanging out with team personnel in the Ferrari’s hospitality or the garage during a Grand Prix weekend, long after everyone else has left the track. The delight in their faces when he won in Singapore was clear, as he pulled a monkey that had dug its nails in off his back. They wanted him to succeed, wanted his miserable run to end.

He’s one of the guys when he’s at the factory, too. “I head to the canteen with everyone else [for lunch],” says Vettel. “It’s the quickest and the food is good. It’s usually really busy, as all the guys are there – including from GT. There’s a couple of queues to get served.”

Does he jump to the front? “No, I don’t like that. All I want is to be part of the team. It would be wrong if I was looking for special treatment as I would be differentiating myself from the rest of the group. I’m part of the team. My role is obviously different, I understand that. The job I have, there are only two [drivers], but for me that doesn’t make any difference. I’m actually very happy to queue.”

At the end of last year, he sorted a photobook for every member of the team, documenting their campaign. He takes being part of a team seriously.

Famously private and not on social media, we know less about Vettel away from the track than many of his rivals. But according to the man himself, he lives a (fairly) normal life when he’s back home. He cooks – though admits he’s not so good – mows the lawn, does the school run and takes the bus. He’s also a keen cyclist; you’ll often see him cycling around a Grand Prix city on a weekend, or in the case of venues like Montreal, between the track and the hotel.

He’s loved riding since he was a kid, the freedom a bicycle gave him allowing him to ride into town, see his friends, head to the local outdoor pool. But it was a motorised two-wheel vehicle which he spent his first bit of real money on – a Cagiva Mito – and he’s had an affinity with classic motorbikes ever since.

In his shed at home – yes, he has a shed – you’ll find his first moped, which is still largely in bits. Vettel stripped it completely some years ago and then started rebuilding it. The frame, suspension and front fork are in, and he got the seat reupholstered, too. But progress is slow.

“I pass by it often and think – ‘if only I had more time!’” he says. “Every now and then it’s nice to get some time to get in there. The problem I have is the times I get to spend on the bike are so far apart that it takes me half a day to get back into what I had done last time!”

This last winter offered an opportunity to have another tinker – and in the process give himself some time to reboot, recharge and ready himself for another fight. This has the feeling of a make-or-break year for Vettel. Get it wrong and he might end up spending more time in his shed…

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...tKs14dsSFHleXc

**wisepie** · 28th January 2020, 16:57

This will surely be the make or break year for Seb and despite the numerous occasions over the last two years when he has made some very unfortunate errors, I will still support him, along with Charles. I hope they never have another Interlagos scenario and that one of them can bring the WDC/WCC back to Maranello.

**Brembo** · 28th January 2020, 17:31

Max out the cars HP and let the driver figure out the turns and straights best at each race. I always agreed with Enzo when he said HP makes the car a winner.

**JuniorUS** · 28th January 2020, 20:50

Originally Posted by Brembo

Max out the cars HP and let the driver figure out the turns and straights best at each race. I always agreed with Enzo when he said HP makes the car a winner.

HP used to be all you needed. I'd say today that he's half right; you can't win without horsepower, but horsepower alone won't guarantee you'll win. Back in the day, aerodynamics consisted of making sure that the car wasn't shaped like a brick. Today, there's a bit more to it than that.

**Ferrarichamp** · 29th January 2020, 09:24

Originally Posted by vcs316

Charles Leclerc gets two grandstands named after him

https://www.motorsportweek.com//admi...m1925my119.jpg

Charles Leclerc's quick rise from rookie to Ferrari star has been recognised by two circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, which have named grandstands after the 22-year-old.

Leclerc's native Monaco has renamed Grandstand K (pictured) between Turns 12 and 13, which overlooks the harbour just before the Piscine complex, which will now be known as the Grandstand Charles Leclerc.

Circuit Paul Ricard in France has followed suit and renamed its main grandstand along the start/finish straight after the Ferrari driver.

It's not unusual for circuits to name grandstands after local drivers, or those with a link to a circuit, such as Max Verstappen who not only has a grandstand named in his honour at the Red Bull Ring, but also at Spa-Francorchamps which prior to the return of the Dutch Grand Prix this season, acted as his home race for his thousands of fans.

Charles needs to win in Monte Carlo this year, would be awesome

**gmpe23** · 29th January 2020, 19:00

http://scuderiafans.com/hear-the-202...ngine-fire-up/

**Brembo** · 29th January 2020, 21:17

Originally Posted by Ferrarichamp

Charles needs to win in Monte Carlo this year, would be awesome

I only hope there's a bonus clause in his contract if he does win there ! His raise just seems too little compared to his team mates salary.

**bkircher** · 31st January 2020, 22:10

Has anyone seen what the new 2020 gear is gonna look like?

**Tifoso** · 1st February 2020, 02:49

Originally Posted by bkircher

Has anyone seen what the new 2020 gear is gonna look like?

**Brembo** · 1st February 2020, 17:24

Just 18 teeth ? What if one breaks ?

**FerrariF60** · 1st February 2020, 17:29

Originally Posted by Brembo

Just 18 teeth ? What if one breaks ?

It will brake for sure; if you look closely you can see some Chinese stamped writing on it...better hope were not having that in our gearbox....lol

**Honzus** · 2nd February 2020, 17:44

Originally Posted by bkircher

Has anyone seen what the new 2020 gear is gonna look like?

Usually the gear is very similar to a Ducati Moto GP team (the same for a livery) and this year I like Ducati livery and gear, so I expect Ferrari not to disappoint us

**dfunk257** · 4th February 2020, 12:17

Originally Posted by Honzus

Usually the gear is very similar to a Ducati Moto GP team (the same for a livery) and this year I like Ducati livery and gear, so I expect Ferrari not to disappoint us

https://www.motorkari.cz/upload/imag...143552_Mid.jpg

I really dont like the Mission Winnow branding on our gear, so hopefully it doesnt spread too mcuh all over the designs. Normally by now we have images but i havent seen anything yet

**wisepie** · 4th February 2020, 17:08

Originally Posted by dfunk257

I really dont like the Mission Winnow branding on our gear, so hopefully it doesnt spread too mcuh all over the designs. Normally by now we have images but i havent seen anything yet

It's all gone pear-shaped since the adoption of the Mission Winnow branding so I'm with you on this one, it looks horrible and sounds silly and despite supposedly having a message within, it doesn't make sense to me.

**jgonzalesm6** · 4th February 2020, 18:27

Originally Posted by bkircher

Has anyone seen what the new 2020 gear is gonna look like?

Originally Posted by Honzus

Usually the gear is very similar to a Ducati Moto GP team (the same for a livery) and this year I like Ducati livery and gear, so I expect Ferrari not to disappoint us

https://www.motorkari.cz/upload/imag...143552_Mid.jpg

2020 gear apparel

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EP84Bt6WoAA0SEf.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EP84Bt3WkAI6jWo.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EP84Bt2X4AAVnFb.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EP84Bt-WoAEFqy9.jpg

**vcs316** · 5th February 2020, 04:57

CAMILLERI: WE NEVER GIVE UP AND OUR AMBITION IS TO WIN

Speaking in a conference call with investors on Tuesday, Camilleri stressed Ferrari’s mission this year is as ever, to win.

“This year will prove to be quite critical in terms of Formula 1. Our ambition remains as always, to seek to win. And that’s [why] we will continue to invest in our infrastructure, resources and technological creativity as we continue to develop our 2020 car as the season unfolds,” he said.

Asked whether this would change should the Scuderia fall behind, particularly with additional resources needing to be dedicated to the 2021 car, Camilleri was adamant it wouldn’t.

“We never give up and our ambition is to win. And therefore, I don’t think we’ll put our foot off the pedal in terms of Formula 1 in 2020 or beyond.”

That said, Camilleri admitted 2020 will be a year like no other in a financial sense.

“The new technical regulations that will come into force in 2021 will entail the development of our very substantially different car, which will obviously require additional resources and expenditures already this year.”

“[We’re] sort of doubling up because we have to work on a totally brand new car as opposed to developing one.”

“You should assume that in 2021 and thereafter, the Formula 1 cars [cost] should come down, not least of which because of the budget cap [counting] for a big portion of the car itself.”

A widely-held assumption in the paddock, Camilleri’s statement would seem to confirm the wealthier F1 teams are expecting to maintain their development advantage going forwards despite the budget cap, at least in the short term.

Just yesterday, we reported that McLaren’s Andreas Seidl does not expect his team to be winning races before 2023, and if Camilleri is to be believed, it will indeed be difficult to compete any earlier.