Sebastian Vettel will use a new chassis for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix as part of efforts to improve his and Ferrari’s performance, following a lacklustre string of results.
Four-time World Champion Vettel holds only 13th in the standings after the opening five rounds of the campaign and has amassed just 10 points.
Vettel’s display reached a nadir at Silverstone as he collected only one point across the two races, slumping to 12th in the second race, having failed to make it through Q2.
Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto indicated post-race that the squad was receptive to the idea of trialling a new chassis for Vettel at the next round of the campaign.
Ferrari will not have any upgrades for its SF1000 as the championship returns to pre-season testing venue Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya but Vettel will use a new chassis.
Head of Chassis Engineering Simone Resta confirmed that “we spotted a small fault caused by a heavy impact over a kerb.”
Resta nonetheless stressed that “it would not have had much of an effect on performance” but that bringing a new chassis “was the logical decision to take.”
Vettel admitted during his Silverstone struggles that he had “run out of answers” for his lack of performance at a venue where he triumphed in 2018.
