22/06/2019
NEWS STORY
As Ferrari seeks to determine the root cause of its continued deficit to Mercedes, the Italian team introducing an engine upgrade earlier than planned while admitting that there is no short-term solution to the SF90's core issues, team boss, Mattia Binotto has dismissed talk of the team discovering a correlation issue between data from its wind-tunnel and its cfd (computer fluid dynamics) figures.
"I've heard and I've read that point and it is not true at all," Binotto told reporters. "We do not have correlation issues.
"I would say that if that would have been the case then we would have solved part of the performance problems," he added, "but it is not a correlation issue. So what I read does not correspond to the true situation."
While the team remains unclear in terms of the upgrades it brought to France, ditching the new floor for the old one, Sebastian Vettel insists the title is not lost, setting Silverstone - where Ferrari scored a surprise win last year - as the deadline by which time it must be able to take on Mercedes.
"Obviously each team is developing their own car," said Binotto, "and you don't know by race ten where the others will be.
"We are continuously understanding better our car, and we have got some ideas," he continued. "But it is difficult to judge if race ten will be the point. But we have seen, as in Canada, that even the races on the circuit are different. So we may expect even better circuits for us in the next races.
"On top of that, we know that we need to develop and improve the car and there are still a few races, but not much. I think we will have something on the car that is at least addressing part of the situation."
However, he dismissed talk that there would be one significant upgrade.
"We are not working on a B-car," he said. "We are continuously developing the car in the wind tunnel and the simulator, back at the design office and simulator. Whatever they may find that is an improvement, we will try to bring it to the track. There is no need or necessity to wait for a big package but more important to try to close the gap as soon as possible, even if it is a progressive development."
Referring to the new parts tried on Friday, he admitted: "The data we got is matching with what we were expecting, so in that respect we are happy.
"That is the reason why at least we are keeping some of the components on the car," he added. "We know it is not sufficient for what we are looking for, but as I said, it was important for us to understand at least the direction and we got relevant data for that."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Le Castellet, here.