Ferrari Finally Stops Sandbagging… Kind of - Verstappen Wants to Make Hamilton’s Life More Difficult

0:08 - Ferrari Finally Stops Sandbagging… Kind of
1:04 - Verstappen Wants to Make Hamilton’s Life More Difficult
2:10 - Fast Feed

Ferrari Finally Stops Sandbagging… Kind of

Ferrari has been playing down their chances of being quick in 2020 for some weeks now.
However, in a surprising turn of events, team principal Mattia Binotto spoke positively about the potential pace of the red cars.

“If you look at the entire winter test, I think we have a better race pace compared to the others.”

"That does not mean that we are the best there, but I think we have a relatively harder time in the simulation of the qualification than in the race simulations."

He also shed some light on the team's relationship with their driver Sebastian Vettel.

“I think he came with a lot of experience being world champion. I think he is a great leader for the team. He is great with the engineers, with the team and with his teammate as well which is important as he is always trying to push us to our best."

“He is always doing the same as well and taking the steps to get himself forward and demanding what he needs from the team, which is a matter of the entire team making themselves better which is important.”


Verstappen Wants to Make Hamilton’s Life More Difficult

Many F1 fans and experts agree that the most entertaining seasons of F1 are the ones that have some form of rivalry at the centre of it.

While some of these rivalries develop on-track, others do so off it. Red Bull's Max Verstappen seems to be on a mission to use the latter avenue to start a rivalry with defending champion Lewis Hamilton.

This isn’t the first instance where Max has made comments about the reigning champion, recently Max had called into question the notion that Lewis isn't invincible.

This time, he called into question the kind of challengers Lewis has had in F1 so far.

"I think the only competition he has had over the years has been his teammate. In general, their car has been simply too dominant for the others throughout the season to do anything about it.”

“That's why I don't think we've been able to really test it so far. He was just a bit too comfortable. I can't wait to make it difficult for him now. I think he knows that."

F1 legend Gerhard Berger reiterated this thought by saying:

“With regard to talent, I have full confidence in Max. Lewis is a benchmark that is difficult to crack, but with the right engine and car, Max can be a real burden."


Fast Feed

- Mercedes driver and defending champion Lewis Hamilton is “genuinely proud of the guys” who
developed the DAS system

- Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen “never" does "anything to please anyone" but himself

- Lawrence Stroll who acquired Racing Point has revealed his "strategy is to bring Aston Martin back to a Formula 1 team in 2021 where they will continue to exist under their own name"

- Former F1 driver and Max Verstappen's father Jos Verstappen is "very enthusiastic" about the Zandvoort circuit's improvements

- Max also praised the circuit by saying “it was a nice circuit but with the changes, it only gets better"

- Victoria's minister for tourism Martin Pakula has confirmed that he “can’t say anything about" the Australian GP going ahead "with absolute certainty”

- The organisers of the Bahrain GP have asked the F1 teams and media personalities planning to attend the race weekend to provide them with their recent travel history so that they can be properly screened

- Renault's new driver Esteban Ocon revealed that he has “good chats with Lewis" Hamilton who gave him "good advice"

- Renault's other driver Daniel Ricciardo confessed that they "couldn't have done an easy 1.15 like Mercedes" during the pre-season testing

- Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko called FIA's confidential settlement with Ferrari as “the real scandal” and feels that he should "have instructed Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner to sue for $24 million in prize money"