Ferrari F1 upgrades ‘going in the right direction’ with more to come at Portimao

Ferrari will bring yet another upgrade to Formula 1’s Portuguese Grand Prix, according to team principal Mattia Binotto.

The Scuderia is enduring one of its worst seasons in F1 after being forced to make a major redesign of its 2020 car having discovered flaws during pre-season testing in February, while the team has also seen its previous engine advantage negated.

Ferrari lies sixth in the constructors’ championship after the opening 12 races of the campaign and has introduced upgrades to its troubled SF1000 at both the Russian and Eifel Grands Prix as part of a last-ditch attempt to make some progress before the end of the year.

Improved performances followed in Sochi and Germany and Binotto has confirmed that the updates Ferrari is bringing to its car “seem to be going in the right direction”.

“Of course, we are not satisfied with this result, but we continue to work on improving our overall performance level,” Binotto said.

“We saw signs of progress in qualifying, but the important thing is that the updates we are introducing seem to be going in the right direction, especially looking ahead to 2021. In the light of this, we should also have a few updates for the next race in Portimao.”

After claiming back-to-back top seven finishes at the last two rounds, Charles Leclerc said he could see “quite a few positives” in the updates Ferrari had introduced.

“Looking back there are quite a few positives,” Leclerc said after the race at the Nurburgring. “I did not expect to be so competitive with the cold weather like that, the car was handling quite well so this was positive.

“I think the small updates that we brought this weekend also worked in the right direction, it wasn’t a massive step but that was not what we were searching for, it was a small step going in the right direction.

“This is positive, now we need to understand why the first stint on Soft was so affected by graining but I am quite pleased with the way the weekend has gone.”