The sport's oldest and most successful team are hoping the car, with more red and less white in the livery following the departure of sponsor Santander, will take them to a first championship in a decade.
Sebastian Vettel believes the back-to-back races in Austria at the start of the Formula One season will be decided on slim margins and his Ferrari team will need to fine-tune their racing strategy to remain competitive over two weeks. Four-times World champion Vettel and team mate Charles Leclerc hit the track in Ferrari's 2018 car, the SF71-H, earlier this week in a test at Mugello as the Scuderia stepped up their preparations for the 2020 campaign.
In the interests of better visibility, teams were told last month they could fix mirrors to the halo head protection device that encircles the cockpit and that became mandatory this season.
The Mercedes driver told reporters he would seek a clarification from race director Charlie Whiting ahead of the next race in Spain.
The next time the four-time world champion will get behind the wheel will be for first Friday practice at Melbourne's Albert Park on March 23.
This year marks the first that two quadruple champions are competing in the same season and their battle to see who joins Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio in second place on the all-time list with five titles promises to light up the series.
This is the German's 50th career win
The four-time world champion's fifth win of the season for Mercedes left him on 213 points to 189 for Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second, and relishing the prospect of a stress-free family holiday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances