Racing In Red | First Assessment: Is The SF1000 Any Good?

Pre-season testing for the 2020 Formula 1 Championship just came to an end, leaving many Ferraristi around the world wondering. The SF1000 hasn't exactly shown the expected prowess out on track, and even Mattia Binotto himself admits the car has its flaws. But is it time to worry already?

All shots featured taken by @f1anaticgp.

The struggles of the SF1000

If there's one thing that Scuderia Ferrari has always impressed with, that's their power unit. The Maranello outlet always managed to deliver the highest speeds and levels of performance under the engine cover, frequently held back by not equally impressive aero. However, Barcelona testing highlighted lower straight line speeds and an overall difficulty to keep up with direct rivals Mercedes and Honda. Sector 2, usually a very favourable sequence at Montmelò for the Prancing Horse, was particularly underwhelming. A strong performance in Sector 3, traditionally hostile to Ferrari, brings hopes up. Despite this, Mattia Binotto himself believes that the car is not yer ready to challenge for wins, playing down the team's chances for Melbourne.

A silver lining

There are still some positives to be taken from Barcelona. Fans around the world seemed particularly worried to see that Sebastian Vettel's car stopped on track during the first week on testing, fearing reliability problems. The issue was quickly fixed in Maranello and was anything but structural. Moreover, Mercedes's struggles in the same department must not be downplayed: it may have gone a bit under the radar, but the Silver Arrows actually changed six power units during the span of six days.

SF1000's straight line speed can be found again, if the cause behind it turns out to be of an aerodynamic nature. After last year's struggles in slow turns, the team drastically improved the drag of the vehicle, and probably went a bit too much the other way, generating an extremely "draggy" design. If correctly identified, however, aero issues can be fixed more easily than PU structural deficiencies. We will get our first answers in Melbourne.

Written by Aurora Dell'Agli