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Ferrari in trouble ahead of 2020 F1 car launch?

NewsDesk

More rumblings about trouble with Ferrari’s 2020 car are emerging, journalist and Maranello ‘insider’ Leo Turrini wrote that data from the 2020 car coming out of the simulator and wind tunnel “have not impressed the engineers.”

Now, citing ‘reliable sources within Ferrari’, Auto Bild says the data from the wind tunnel is actually “worse” than is being reported ahead of the new car launch at Reggio Emilia’s Teatro Valli on Tuesday 11 February 18.30 CET.

Correspondents Ralf Bach and Bianca Garloff report: “The car could have a serious error in the aerodynamics, which neither the simulator specialists nor the wind tunnel engineers have been able to solve.”

They claim that the problem could be that Ferrari has gone the Red Bull route with a very steep rake angle at the bottom of the car.

“It helps you in several areas,” explained former F1 designer Gary Anderson. “But if just one little thing is wrong, there is a chain reaction from the front wing. Then you have a serious problem that is not easy to solve.”

Another problem is that Ferrari appears to have lost the battle with rival teams and the FIA over the disputed legality of its 2019 engine.

Mattia Binotto told the official Ferrari magazine that the politics in Formula 1 took him by surprise when he became team boss last year,

“It is a front on which we cannot let our guard down, because having a competitive car and good drivers is not enough. I didn’t expect it to require so much effort. I think the level of competition has never been so high.

“We have the credentials to do well, but nothing is taken for granted because our opponents, like us, are intensifying their efforts to improve.

“Our advantage is the exceptional support we receive, and the power of a myth that we want to keep nourishing at all costs,” added the Ferrari team boss.

Meanwhile, Ferrari will not launch its 2020 car at the team’s famous Maranello headquarters on 11 February.

The Italian team has announced that the event will instead take place at Teatro Valli, a historical theatre in Reggio Emilia, located about 40 minutes from Maranello.

“It is a dream come true,” Reggio Emilia mayor Luca Vecchi is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Ferrari explained that it chose Reggio Emilia for the launch because Italy’s tricolour flag was born there in 1796.

“The connection with the birth of our flag is beautiful because it and the Rosso del Cavallino Rampante (prancing horse) are symbols around which all of Italy recognises itself,” mayor Vecchi added.

“We are ready to welcome the Ferrari presentation by turning on the tricolor lights on the three bridges of Calatrava and on the fountain of Teatro Valli where the new car will be unveiled.”