Spanish Grand Prix – Sebastian e Charles: “Here to turn things around”

Montmelò, 9 May 2019 – Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc arrived in Barcelona today, prior to the start of track action tomorrow for the fifth round of the season. The two Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow drivers will have their first taste of the new power unit fitted to the SF90 as well as further aerodynamic updates, following on from the first lot of changes introduced in Baku a fortnight ago.

Walking into the weekend. Mid-morning found Sebastian and Charles tackling their first lap of the track, at walking pace to get a close up of any changes made to the Montmelo circuit, even if it holds no real secrets, being the home of winter testing. After the usual weekend planning briefings with the engineers, Sebastian was on the panel of the official FIA press conference, clearly ready for a good fight in Spain. “The morale and atmosphere in the team is high. We have further updates here on top of those brought to Baku and I think we can be competitive. I have always thought we have a very strong package, but we have just struggled a bit to put everything together and be quickest.”

With the media. A bit later, it was Charles’ turn to be quizzed by the journalists, this time in the team’s motorhome. The Monegasque driver confirmed his team-mate’s view of the team’s will to all pull together and fight back. “We are extremely united and you can feel it in the dynamic of the team. I think, a bit like recent events in the Champions’ League, where a club came back when facing a huge task, in our team too, the will to turn things around after a less than easy start from the results point of view, is there. We will give it our best shot.”

Free practice tomorrow. Tomorrow sees the event come to life with the first free practice session starting at 11 and the second one at 15. On Saturday, qualifying gets underway at 3pm, after the final hour of practice, which starts at noon. The 49^th Spanish Grand Prix starts on Sunday at 15.10.