F1 News
Vettel: "We didn't lose any power on the engine"
One of the hot topics in the world of Formula 1 has been Ferrari's significant performance drop at the United States Grand Prix. Despite claims, Sebastian Vettel has suggested why they suffered at the Circuit of the Americas and insisted it wasn't cheating.
Vettel and his teammate Charles Leclerc were clearly off the pace at the US Grand Prix even before the German retired from the race. This opposed their recent form which has shown them to have a significant advantage over their rivals.
This led to claims from Max Verstappen in particular that the Scuderia had been cheating with their engine in previous races. However, Vettel has denied these claims and hinted it was down to a change in setup.
“We didn’t lose any power on the engine," Vettel said as quoted by RaceFans.
“I think we opted to run probably a bit more downforce than other people.
“In quali the comparison was quite clear. We gained a little bit on the straight, not as much as usual, but we didn’t lose as much as usual in the corners. Obviously, one always goes sort of hand-in-hand.
“So I think in the race – obviously I wasn’t taking part much of the race – but for Charles [Leclerc] we didn’t have the pace that we normally have. But I know it’s not for that reason.
“Obviously there’s other things that made a difference and played a role, which we were looking to understand. We had some races where we were not competitive at all this year so it’s not the only one. So for sure it will matter to understand exactly what happened, to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and we tackle those areas for next year.”