Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto would have adopted a high downforce approach with the 2019 car in hindsight, he admits.
The Italian team has been left trailing by Mercedes this season, primarily due to their speed advantage in the corners after altering their design focus to downforce over top speed.
That gulf in performance was clearly on show at the last race in Hungary, where Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line a minute clear of Sebastian Vettel in third.
But while Binotto denies getting the design philosophy wrong with the SF90, he acknowledges Mercedes got it right to deal with one of the major factors of this season.
“Certainly these tyres require more downforce just to heat them up, to make them work,” he commented.
“So, yes, if I would go back one year ago, I would give more focus on the downforce compared to what we did, even to the disadvantage of some more drag.
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“Can we call that a ‘concept’? Not too sure. I think it’s an objective that has become more clear, certainly.”
What made Mercedes’ dominance so surprising at the start of the season was that, in testing, it appeared that Ferrari was the team to beat pretty much throughout.
While the gap had closed up by the final day in Barcelona, Binotto admits that the eventual gap that emerged when the racing began was unexpected.
“We’ve been surprised by our poor performance at the start of the season because maybe we were not thinking to be ahead, but at least as fast as them, and it was not the case in Australia,” he recalled.
“Maybe it was the case in Bahrain, but it has not been on average and if there is anything that needs to be looked at, it’s maybe the average.
“Maybe as well winter testing simply was a case where we were overperforming or they were underperforming, whatever were the reasons, and that turned into a different situation on different circuits, different time, different weather, different tyres.”
The Ferrari chief did conclude by admitting car performance wasn’t the sole reason for their winless year to date, however.
“We missed a few opportunities, and certainly today if you would’ve looked at the result with a few wins, the picture would’ve been completely different.”