Another week. Another outing for Formula 1 in some exotic locale. And seemingly, that means another 1-2 sweep of the grid by Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, with either Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas snagging the checkers. The esteemed equipe of Ferrari has pretty much been relegated to the Best of the Rest in 2019, with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc handling the driving chores. That might change coming into this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.
Ferrari is coming into the Catalunya circuit with a new powertrain combination, centered around a revised version of the 1,600cc V-6 that powers the SF90, an engine that was supposed to make its debut later in the F1 season at Montreal. Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto explained that “it’s time for the Spanish GP, traditionally a race where most of the teams bring some updates, therefore we can expect to see a step up in performance from our competitors. We are currently behind in the championship and we have to catch up, which we know means that our development work will be the key to this season. Having brought a new aerodynamic package to Baku, we will also bring some developments in this area to Barcelona.
Binotto added that “on top of that, we will have a new power unit that we are introducing ahead of schedule, as the second specification was due to be brought to Canada. Shell, in close collaboration with our team, has developed a different formulation of race lubricant that will also be introduced with the new power unit, delivering increased performance.
It’s only down to a big team effort with everyone pushing hard to make up ground that we have been able to bring these developments forward.” Here’s where you can keep up with the Maranello team’s exploits on the world stage.
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