Despite two technical directives and a poor showing at the United States Grand Prix two weeks ago, Ferrari’s controversial PU is back on song again at Interlagos ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday.
According to Auto Motor und Sport, Red Bull-Honda is calculating that their lap-time loss to Ferrari on the straight is in the region of seven-tenths of a second, with Mercedes lagging behind by even more.
“Obviously Ferrari is fast again this weekend, especially on the straights,” world champion Lewis Hamilton is quoted by Auto Bild.
But Max Verstappen, who in Austin accused Ferrari of “cheating”, told Sky Italia it is too early to say Ferrari has recovered, “I don’t know. We’ll see on Saturday. You can’t trust the lap-times on Friday too much.”
Verstappen’s Red Bull boss Christian Horner thinks there could actually be more FIA clarifications on engine legality in the near future, “A few things were clarified in Austin, and here we got more information. Maybe there will be even more over the weekend,” he said.
As for Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel said the Maranello team is simply continuing to push ahead, “It is sad how quickly people judge these days after one bad race. But that’s the way it is. The best way to handle it is to ignore it and do your own work.”