Ferrari to bring "small evolutions" to France

Ferrari may not have won last time out in Canada, but they demonstrated they still had the stomach for the fight. As they head to France, focused on trying to end Mercedes’ unbeaten 2019 run, Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto has revealed they will be bringing a few “small evolutions”…

For much of the Canadian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel looked set to give Ferrari their first victory of the 2019 campaign. But a mistake, which led to a five-second time penalty, cost him the win, with Lewis Hamilton taking the spoils and Vettel finishing second ahead of team mate Charles Leclerc.

Our data suggests Ferrari should have the performance to fight Mercedes for top honours again at Circuit Paul Ricard this weekend, as Formula 1 heads back to the French Riviera. The Scuderia have been working hard back at Maranello to find solutions for the problems that have prevented them from getting the most out of their package so far this season – and some of those will be evident in Le Castellet.

“Following Canada we definitely want to get back on track and go racing with our rivals once again,” said Binotto. “In France we will have a few small evolutions, elements that represent for us a useful step in defining the direction we will take in developing the car.

“What we will be bringing won’t be the solution to our problems, but the technical feedback we get from these evolutions will be important for the next steps we take.

“Paul Ricard has been a tricky circuit for us last year and we know that this kind of track isn’t particularly favourable for our package, but nothing is impossible so we will be ready to do our best.”

Vettel, who trails championship leader Hamilton by 62 points, added that he thinks his SF90 “can have the pace to do quite well” in France, where he finished fifth last year after contact at Turn 1 with Valtteri Bottas.