The Ferrari F1 settlement still leaves a “sour taste” on the rivals

Ferrari got off to a difficult start to the 2020 season after its straight speed performance dropped sharply compared to last year.

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc finished 13th and 14th respectively at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, when Ferrari drove a total of five laps with one car in the top 10.

The drop in performance is due to Ferrari’s controversial agreement with private engines at the FIA ​​over the winter when competitors asked questions about the legality of their engine last year.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the affair had still left some frustrations, despite Ferrari being out of the competition at the top this year.

“The whole thing left a pretty sour taste,” said Horner.

“Of course you can draw your own conclusions from Ferrari’s current performance.

“There are races that we should have won last year if they had driven an engine that seems very different from the performance they had last year.

“It is obviously very difficult for them, but I think their focus has obviously been on the wrong areas over the past few years so they are obviously struggling a little with what was in this agreement.”

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Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff previously spoke about the pressure that the performance of the Ferrari engine put on the Brixworth engine team in 2018 and 2019.

Wolff said Sunday that he would agree with Horner’s “sour taste” comment, revealing that Mercedes had lost engine staff due to the stretching by Ferrari.

“Ferrari is a cult brand and fantastic people who build these cars,” said Wolff.

“It’s hard to say because I don’t want to put any more oil in this oil. But we were so stretched last year and the year before that we suffered.

“We lost some people. We lost some people because we were at the end of their health. And that’s why I would probably follow Christian’s comment. “

Wolff said earlier on the Belgian Grand Prix weekend that Ferrari would have to question decisions made by “certain members of the team” after the performance slump.

Ferrari F1 boss Mattia Binotto said after the race that the team was “disappointed and angry” with his portrayal.