Ferrari has a "duty" to support "asset" Vettel through tough 2020

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies has said it is the "duty" of the team to support Sebastian Vettel through a tough start to the 2020 Formula 1 season.

Vettel will leave Ferrari at the end of the current season, but the German has struggled to get on top of the Ferrari SF1000 in the opening five grands prix of 2020.

Of the races to take place so far, Vettel has a best finish of sixth but finished outside of the points at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, finishing 12th.

Meckies said: "It’s our duty now trying to do anything we can to support him and to make sure that we convert the better car for him into lap time, because he’s a massive asset for the team."

He explained: “I think Sebastian is second to none when it comes to fighting spirit and to trying everything he can and to be as constructive as one can be in trying to understand how to move the next limit.

“I think what he expressed in saying ‘we’ve hit a wall’ is that we have been trying so many different things in the last two weeks [at Silverstone] with him which somehow made the car feel better, but didn’t seem to give any breakthrough in development.

“We are together with him on that search for better lap time that we are after.”

Ferrari has confirmed Vettel will take a new chassis for the Spanish Grand Prix after a "small fault" was discovered on his car although Simone Resta, Ferrari head of chassis engineering said the fault "would not have had much of an effect on performance."

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