Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc car plan update delivered by Ferrari F1 chief

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc face being left trailing in the wake of their rivals with Mattia Binotto admitting Ferrari might have to halt development of their 2020 car if the gap to Mercedes and Red Bull is too great. Ferrari unveiled their new car with a lavish ceremony at Reggio Emilia’s historic Romolo Valli Municipal Theatre last month.

The SF1000, named as such ahead of Ferrari’s 1000th Grand Prix later this year, failed to live up to expectations in pre-season testing though.

Mercedes, Red Bull and even Racing Point looked quicker than Maranello’s latest offering in Spain and Ferrari face a battle to get to the front of the grid at the upcoming Australian Grand Prix.

Binotto’s team will be hoping to develop upgrades in time for the Melbourne race, at which Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton dominated last year.

Ferrari might not be able to bring on the SF1000 too much, however, with changing regulations for 2021 meaning teams must divert their attention to next season’s plan sooner than usual.

READ MORE: Ferrari to use team orders in 2020

Binotto says Ferrari to stay on schedule for now, but that stance may change if Mercedes and co. are streaking ahead in the opening stages of the campaign.

“How much will the 2020 [project] catch up affect the 2021 [project]? That’s certainly a good point,” Binotto said. “I think it’s a compromise that we need to find out.

“I think we are very early in the season, and you cannot compromise the entire season itself. So at the start of the season, we certainly keep pushing on 2020 as much as we can, because it’s time for us to understand the car and the weaknesses.

“And hopefully, it is things that we can address as soon as possible. If I see after a few races, and we will still understand that the gap is too big, then maybe it’s a considerations that we can take into account.

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“But it’s early stage right now. I think it’s just few days of testing. I think there are things that we can address on the car, hopefully quite soon. So at the moment, we should keep our plan as it was for 2020/2021.”

Ferrari’s struggles in pre-season testing came with the hoodoo of not winning a title since the 2008 constructors’ championship hanging over them.

Binotto is under pressure to end Mercedes’ dominance and restore F1’s most famous team to its former standing.

However, Ferrari face a battle to do that this season, with Mercedes still looking like the team to beat.

source: express.co.uk