F1 News

Ferrari have changed “quite a lot” of their engine for 2020

14 December 2019 at 13:57
  • Bevan Youl

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has that there has been “quite a lot” of change to their 2020 power unit despite the regulations remaining near the same from 2019, believing there “is much that can be done”.

The Scuderia struggled throughout the first part of the season to match their performances in winter testing, failing to pick up a win until Charles Leclerc’s wins in Spa and Monza, followed by Sebastian Vettel’s in Singapore.
 
But despite having the fastest car in a straight line Binotto feels a change is needed for 2020.
 
"We have changed, by quite a lot, our power unit, in terms of architecture, the cylinder," said Binotto as quoted by Motorsport.com.

"It's quite a big review just to show that here again, there is much that can be done.

“The change we are looking for next year is quite significant changes on the engine itself."

The Italian says that there is more of a focus on down force, something they struggled with throughout 2019, with less straight-line speed expected as a result.

"Our car next year is aiming for a lot more downforce by having more downforce, certainly more drag," he added.

"We are not expecting to be as far on the straight as we have been. But you never know what the others are doing.

"The things that we learned, we recognise that we need to have certainly more downforce – as we saw at the end of the season, still there is a gap to close.

"So, our car is aiming for more downforce and by consequence, we are certainly working more on drag."