Ferrari unveils the SF1000

This is the new SF1000 from Scuderia Ferrari that will compete in the upcoming Formula 1 world championship.

The SF1000 is named in honour of the Italian manufacturer being set to participate in its 1000th race later this year.

The new racing car was presented to the public and watching media on social platform with an extravagant launch event at the Romolo Valli theatre in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

It features the prominent branding from title sponsor Philip Morris International’s ‘Mission Winnow’ initiative and even though the livery appears mostly unchanged, with other major partners like Shell, UPS and Ray-Ban remaining in prominent positions on the sidepod and elsewhere on the car.

The driver line-up remains the same as last year with the talented and double race winner Charles Leclerc entering his second season with the Scuderia alongside the four-time champion Sebastian Vettel.

The former has signed a new deal to remain with the team through to 2024, whereas Vettel’s current contract expires at the end of this season.

Leclerc and Vettel combined three race victories and nine pole positions with last year’s car, the SF90, but it was not competitive enough against the likes of Mercedes.

Hopefully the SF1000 will be a match in terms of performance with the W10 from the Silver Arrows.

The SF1000 has adopted an “extreme concept” in terms of design, despite the overall look seems very similar to last year’s chassis, the SF90.

“The starting point of that car is the SF90 but certainly we have been extreme on all the concepts as much as we could,” said Binotto at Ferrari’s launch in Italy.

“We developed the car and tried to look for the maximum aero performance – that’s first trying to maximise the downforce level.

“So the entire car, the monocoque, the power unit layout, the gearbox has been really packaged in a way to have a very narrow and slim body shape.

“I think that’s quite visible on it.”

“It is clearly going to be an interesting year, tough competition, a long season but it is also an important season because in parallel we have to create and develop a completely new car in line with the regulations that will govern F1 in 2021 and beyond, so the team is going to be very, very busy,” Ferrari chief executive Louis Camilleri said at the launch.

“I have every confidence in our women and men, their creativity, their discipline and determination and, above all, the work ethic they have had before which is the hallmark of this company, one instilled upon us by our founder Enzo Ferrari.

“Mattia [Binotto, team principal] and his team are doing a great job and we look forward to successes going forward.”

3 thoughts to “Ferrari unveils the SF1000”

  1. Ferrari’s 2020 title challenger built on ‘extreme concepts’ – Binotto. Article taken from Formula1.com.

    Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto says the team’s 2020 challenger, the SF1000, is an ‘extreme’ design concept, as the Scuderia look to finally topple Mercedes in the battle for F1 honours this year.

    Named in anticipation for Ferrari’s 1,000th Grand Prix, Binotto explained the SF1000 is a very different car to its predecessor and features tighter packaging, lower weight and an improved power unit.

    “It may look similar to last year but it’s completely different to the one of last year and a lot of concepts are very extreme on that car,” he said during Ferrari’s theatrical launch at the iconic Romolo Valli Theatre in Reggio Emilia, some 30km from Ferrari’s Maranello hometown.

    “Certainly the regulations have remained stable so it’s difficult to transform the car completely, really.”

    Binotto explained how his technical team had approached the design of the new car.

    “The starting point was the car of last year, the SF90, but certainly we have been extreme on the concept as much as we could, we’ve developed the car trying to look for maximum aero performance and maximise the downforce level, so the entire car, the monocoque, the power unit, the gearbox has been really packaged in a way to have a narrow and slim bodyshape. I think that is quite visible on it.

    “We worked on the components, the suspension – it has been designed to have has had a greater durability on the racetrack for the setup.”

    With technical regulations dictating that teams must limit their oil use, the Ferrari engine has also been revamped in an effort to comply with that and bolster Ferrari’s advantage in the power stakes.

    “We put a lot of effort to keep the weight down – we worked a lot on the power unit not only packaging but [designing] each component first to improve the performance and to cope with technical regulations where oil consumption will be reduced by 50%,” he said.

    Speaking at the launch, Sebastian Vettel revealed that Ferrari had discovered several “clever solutions” to evolve the SF90 concept into the SF1000.

    “It’s an incredible achievement,” he said. “We had the opportunity to obviously to see it a little before [the unveil] and to have also a direct comparison to last year’s car, and you can really spot the differences, especially when it comes to packaging and the back part of the car.

    “Everything sits a lot tighter, so there’s a lot of work behind that, because it’s not so easy, so we’ve found some clever solutions to be able to achieve that. I can’t wait to drive it because obviously that’s more exciting than to look at it, so one more week to wait, but I think it’s fantastic. It’s also a little bit more red than last year, so I think it looks great.”

    The SF1000 will hit the track in anger on February 19 with Charles Leclerc and Vettel at the wheel, when pre-season testing begins at Barcelona.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *