0:08 - 2020 Cars “Terrible” to Follow
1:26 - Ferrari: “The Others Are Faster Than Us”
2:56 - Fast Feed

2020 Cars “Terrible” to Follow

One of the biggest criticisms of the modern F1 car is its inability to follow one another at close quarters.

As soon as a car would get close to another, it would lose a lot of its aerodynamic grip. This has made organic overtaking almost non-existent.

While the 2021 regulations are aimed at rectifying this issue, 2020 is only destined to get worse as per Red Bull's Max Verstappen

"It's just terrible following other cars. You lose so much downforce behind another car. The cars become quicker each year so it becomes worse each year as well."

On a more personal note, Max sounded quite happy about Red Bull's 2020 challenger

"The car feels better connected to the road. That was the goal after all. It feels much more stable. We tried some things already last year to work towards this. I jumped in the car and it was how we wanted it straight away."

He also explained Red Bull's approach to testing which was more about getting mileage rather than outright pace

"We're not chasing lap time; it's not about that. It's about scanning and testing everything on the car, making sure everything works well and that it's reliable."

"It's been really positive and the car has felt good all week. We still have a lot of things to learn on the car and that will continue next week, but at the end of this first test I'm happy and can't complain."


Ferrari: “The Others Are Faster Than Us”

Irrespective of how their season goes, Ferrari has always aced the pre-season testing's timesheets for a few years now.

That streak came to an end at this year's testing in Barcelona.

Some feel that Ferrari maybe sandbagging and just aren't showing their hand while others have speculated that Ferrari might have already run into problems with their 2020 car.

Team principal Mattia Binotto's revelations suggests that it could be the latter.

“I’m not as optimistic as last year and I think the others are faster than us at the moment."

He has concerns but feels that all is not lost

"How much faster is difficult to judge and we will pull the data in the coming days. But I don’t think we’re as fast as them at the moment. Do we have any concerns? Yes, when you are not as fast as you want to be, but I think it’s too early to define them so these three days have been very important."

"We have a clear picture which allows better understanding and what will be more important is to develop the car in the right direction."

He, however, did suggest that Melbourne would be the true test of Ferrari's pecking order on the grid.

“Having said that, it’s a very long season, so there will be time to recover. But, let’s wait for next week and Australia to truly assess what’s the true performance of the car.”

Red Bull's Max Verstappen also gave his thoughts on Ferrari's predicament.

"They seem to have problems. Ferrari has not yet started a race simulation. That is why they are difficult to read,"

It should be noted that performance figures during testing don’t always translate to the races and only time will tell the exact state of affairs at Ferrari.


Fast Feed

- McLaren's team principal Andreas Seidl has confirmed that the team won't be trying to copy Mercedes' DAS system as they have "other areas" "to focus" on

- He also stated that "it’s by far the best start [in] many, many years for McLaren in a winter test"

- Red Bull's chief designer and technical officer Adrian Newey isn't a fan of "the general trend in successive regulations to become ever more restrictive."

- Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas had "fun" pushing "the car a little bit closer to the limits" while setting the pace during testing

- He is also very proud of Mercedes for being "the only team running" the DAS system, something he had "been aware of" "for quite a long time."

- Mercedes' other driver Lewis Hamilton felt "great" about the team's strong "reliability"

- Hamilton also wants F1 to promote "gender equality" while "being open to all classes" and "all religions"

- Williams driver George Russell is finding the 2020 car "more planted" and "more together" making it "a nicer car to drive."