Ferrari has announced that they have found the cause of the engine failure that affected them the previous week while testing their car in Barcelona.

This was after the car Sebastian Vettel was driving stopped on the track on the morning of Friday, the third day of the pre-season testing. This led to the replacement of the power unit in the SF1000, delaying Vettel.

After the race, the faulty unit was sent back to the company’s factory at Maranello for investigation. It was there that it was discovered that the unit had an with the lubrication system, something described as a “non-structural problem”. According to the company, they checked the whole of the car, stripping it apart, and found the problem was with the lubrication system, although they announced that it was no cause for concern as they were working on a repair for it.

The first stage of the pre-season testing showed Ferrari still has a lot to work on as they were nowhere near their rivals like Mercedes or Red Bull. Team principal, Mattia Binoto admitted that other cars were faster than the Ferrari on the track “for now”.

Ferrari drivers Vettel and Charles Leclerc come at 14th and 16th place in the overall times. Leclerc revealed that the team was working on a new strategy, different from the one they used in 2019 that saw them come on top, adding that their main priority during these tests is to focus on performance. Vettel added that the aim at the moment is to focus on how many laps they can go, rather than the maximum performance of the engine.

For this week, Vettel will start the test on Wednesday morning with the SF1000, while Leclerc would continue later in the day. Vettel would man it alone on Thursday as Leclerc has the full reins on Friday.

The pre-season test, which will end this Friday on the 28th would show us just how ready the many teams are for the first Grand Prix of 2020 happening in Australia, between the 13th – 15th of March.

Written by: Leon Osamor