Ferrari Unveil New SF1000 Car For 2020 Formula One Season
12th February 2020
The single-seater's name acknowledges the fact that the Italian team will start its 1,000th world championship race during the coming campaign, which begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 15
- Ferrari unveiled its new SF1000 car for the 2020 Formula One season, which they hope will deliver a first world drivers title since 2007, during a glitzy ceremony on Tuesday
- Narrower than last season's SF90, with a deeper red colouring the body, Ferrari is pinning its hopes on the SF1000 car earning them drivers and constructors titles that have eluded them for 12 and 11 years respectively
- The Scuderia broke with tradition and presented its new racing car outside of its stronghold of Maranello, unveiling it instead amid of sea of red on stage at the Teatro Romolo-Valli in the nearby city of Reggio Emilia.
REGGIO EMILIA, Italy-
Ferrari unveiled its new SF1000 car for the 2020 Formula One season, which they
hope will deliver a first world drivers title since 2007, during a glitzy
ceremony on Tuesday.
The single-seater's name acknowledges the fact that the Italian
team will start its 1,000th world championship race during the coming campaign,
which begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 15.
Narrower than last season's SF90, with a deeper red
colouring the body, Ferrari is pinning its hopes on the SF1000 car earning them
drivers and constructors titles that have eluded them for 12 and 11 years
respectively.
"I like it very much," said German driver
Sebastian Vettel.
"It's much narrower at the back than last year and it
is also redder, it's even better. I'm impatient to drive it, that will be even
more fascinating than looking at it."
The Scuderia broke with tradition and presented its new
racing car outside of its stronghold of Maranello, unveiling it instead amid of
sea of red on stage at the Teatro Romolo-Valli in the nearby city of Reggio
Emilia.
"This is a very important place for our country,"
chairman of the Ferrari group John Elkann explained.
"It was in this city that the tricolour flag, which
became that of Italy, was created. And Ferrari is proud of Italy and of
representing Italy."
"This is a very special year," continued Ferrari
Team Manager Mattia Binotto.
"It's 70 years of Formula One, we have been there from
the start and we are going to reach the figure of 1,000 Grands Prix, which is
something incredible."
Barring a forced change in the calendar because of the
deadly coronavirus in Asia, the milestone should be reached in June during the
Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
"Maybe it looks a lot like the SF90, but I can assure
you it is very different," continued Binotto.
"We still have to make progress, especially on
reliability," he added, recalling that Ferrari, like the other teams, had
to face "the double challenge" of preparing the next season in
parallel with the following one, when new rules will come into force.
- Equal footing -
Binotto stressed that this season veteran Vettel and
22-year-old Charles Leclerc, who impressed on his debut last season, would be
starting on an equal footing.
"We have seen that they can both fight for the best
results. They are both on the same level. It is up to them to race," he
added.
Vettel, a four-time world champion with Red Bull and twice
runner-up with Ferrari, insisted it was not a hard decision for him to accept.
"I don't see it that way," said the
32-year-old.
"I don't see Charles going up and me going down. We
have the same car and, for me, it doesn't change anything. That was also the
case last season."
Last season, the association between the experienced Vettel
and Leclerc often turned into a duel, coming to a head when the two drivers
collided during the Brazilian GP.
But 22-year-old Leclerc, who won two races and finished
fourth place in the world championship, said lessons had been learned.
"We have learned the lesson from Brazil. We are free to
race, but we are teammates," he said.
"A lot of people are working behind us, as a team, and
things like Brazil should not happen."
Both drivers said they were impatient to try out the new
car, which will be on track next week for the pre-season testing in
Barcelona.
"I felt emotional when I saw it," said Monaco's
Leclerc.
"Now I can't wait to be out on track and try it and to
show all the work that has been done on this car.
"It's going to be a great challenge. I'm ready to learn
from my mistakes to become an even better driver.
"What all of us want at Ferrari is to be world
champions."