New Ferrari chassis for Sebastian Vettel at the Spanish Grand Prix

Ferrari

New Ferrari chassis for Vettel at the Spanish Grand Prix

Ferrari discovered minor damage to Vettel's chassis after the two Silverstone races

Sam Hall

Wednesday 12 August 2020 14:55

Sebastian Vettel will be given a new Ferrari chassis for the Spanish Grand Prix after the team discovered a "small fault" in the post-Silverstone inspections.

Sebastian Vettel has struggled to get to grips with the SF1000 and currently sits 13th in the drivers' standings - nine places and 35 points behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

An engine failure in practice for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix and a turn one spin did nothing to improve things on his farewell Ferrari tour, but the Scuderi has confirmed he will be in a new chassis for the Barcelona race after discovering a "small fault" in his current car.

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Ferrari head of chassis engineering Simone Resta said: "There will be no particular updates on the SF1000, however Sebastian will have a new chassis, because after the Silverstone post-race analysis, we spotted a small fault caused by a heavy impact over a kerb. It would not have had much of an effect on performance, but it was the logical decision to take."

Several teams, most notably championship leaders Mercedes, suffered with high levels of tyre wear last weekend, and Resta expects the scorching temperatures forecast to provide a similar challenge once again.

He added: "We will obviously encounter much hotter weather with track temperatures expected to be well above 40°C: it will be an important factor, especially when it comes to the behaviour of the tyres, as we saw at the last two races in Silverstone."

Of the coming weekend, Vettel commented: "This circuit is quite different to Silverstone and I am curious to find out how the car will feel here. We can expect very high temperatures and so it will be important to find a set-up that allows you to have good speed without causing excessive tyre wear.”

Before you go...

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