F1 | For Ferrari, a cold shower in testing, few reasons to smile but Binotto's attitude is the right one

We have repeatedly repeated how tests count for nothing, and after this first round in Barcelona we could add "fortunately". Even when you see it coming from afar, with that wide and squat nose, the SF1000 doesn't inspire great confidence, when compared to the streamlined and harmonious shapes of its direct rivals.

The shower in Spain was quite cold; the faces of the men in red were dark, the understeer problems seem to be unchanged and the team principal himself anticipated that there aren't many changes expected for next week. In short, Ferrari is this for now and everything seems but an encouraging and exciting project. The drivers themselves issued fairly buttoned-down and diplomatic statements, but revealed very little of that cautious and longed-for optimism that the Ferrari audience hoped to grasp at least between the lines.

The truth is that there are few reasons to smile. The Red team didn't focus on performance, it didn't work decisively on the set-ups, in short it didn't look for the time. And this is a fact anyway. So speed and competitiveness are still an unknown, but the signs are not the best. The car did relatively few laps, 354 laps in total compared to 494 for the Mercedes and 470 for the Red Bull. As if out of three days Maranello had lost one in terms of overall mileage. The team worked a lot in the garage and did not exploit the full power of the engine, nevertheless it had reliability problems with the power unit itself, which forced Vettel to take a long stop.

It was difficult to expect an impetuous Ferrari in the tests, but the gap from Mercedes to date appears unbridgeable. And we're not just talking about performance, but about approach and depth. Mercedes has amazed everyone with the DAS, it continues to be at the forefront, intoxicated with an enthusiasm and a desire to win that do not seem to wane over time, it almost manages to transform a certain poorly concealed and innate arrogance into a spectacle. Ferrari, on the other hand, is there struggling, focused on its honest work, but caught a little off guard by its rivals. The Cavallino gives the idea of ​​always being one step behind, despite giving it its all. The aesthetic factor is not a yardstick, but the SF1000 appears heavy and awkward to the eye. The smiles of the technicians and drivers will count even less, but there were very few of them.

To be admired, however, is the attitude of Mattia Binotto, helmsman of a ship that is difficult to steer with dangerous rocks emerging left and right. The team principal kept expectations low all winter, never made any proclamations and - with great honesty - on the third day of testing he specified that Ferrari is still far from Mercedes and that there is not this great optimism.

Without indulging in catastrophism, it is useless, however, to sugarcoat the pill by relying on the mantra of "maybe she was hiding". Because if Ferrari had hidden and was ready to overturn the table then we would be looking at an Oscar-worthy performance that Parasite really moved. The truth is that the Red team has been very absent these days, in obvious difficulty; the only hope is that the team has a clear development plan and knows how to correct those "similar characteristics to last year's single-seater“, said Vettel with his usual boyish tact. Those defects, to put it crudely, that just don't allow you to dream. There isn't much to be optimistic about, but in history many times Ferrari seemed doomed and then got back up again (not least the winter of 2017) and at least the approach of a very serious, honest and realistic team in its statements must be saved .

Antonino Rendina

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