Ferrari expects their poor pace in Austin to be merely a blip as they look ahead to the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Having claimed every pole and taken the fight to Mercedes since the summer break, the Scuderia fell back massively as Charles Leclerc finished a massive 50 seconds behind race winner Valtteri Bottas.
That led to huge questions over whether Ferrari’s performance had been neutered by a technical directive from the FIA which, it appeared, led to their engine advantage largely evaporating.
Any link has been quickly denied, however, and team boss Mattia Binotto is confident of a return to the speed they showed in Mexico.
“We come to the penultimate round of the season after a frustrating race in Austin, where we were unable to deliver the results we felt we could have done,” he said in a race preview.
“On Sunday, Charles’ pace in the first stint was poor although his car performance level was back to normal after the first pit stop. So we will put all this behind us now and look ahead to Brazil and a fresh start.”
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If Ferrari’s performance does pick up again, they may well head to Interlagos as favourites given the two long straights which start and finish the lap.
However, Sebastian Vettel knows all too well that this is a race that often doesn’t care about the form book.
“Racing in Brazil, in Sao Paulo, I think in a nutshell, anything can happen,” said the three-time winner of this event.
“I don’t know why, but there is something about this place and this circuit. Every year, something crazy happens and, if it doesn’t you can be sure it will the following year.
“This is another track that has suited us well in the past and treated us well over the last couple of years. I remember we had good pace there and Kimi was on the podium last year, while two years ago we won the race.
“I think overall it’s been a good hunting ground for us and hopefully it will be like that again this weekend.”
Vettel though may well be alone in leading the attack against Ferrari and Red Bull, as Leclerc starts from the back of the grid.
“Charles will get a new power unit as his was damaged on Saturday in Austin, which meant he had to use a previously used and less powerful version for the rest of the weekend,” confirmed Binotto.
“Fitting a new power unit means taking a grid penalty in Sao Paulo, but we should be back to our normal performance level and show some fighting spirit to finish the season on a high note.
“That will be important in order to confirm we are making progress with our car and to take some of that momentum into the winter work.
“I know that our drivers and the whole team are fully focused on that.”
It has even been speculated the Monegasque could run a 2020-spec engine at Interlagos, though that has not been confirmed.
