[NeilP]

Well just confirmation that what happened in Australia is still the Ferrari mind set. That has to in some way annoy Leclerc sure he can get his head down and ignore it but that does not change the fact its there and it is another thing he has to deal with.

Two races is not really enough of a picture but colour me shocked if Leclerc does not beat Vettel by the end of the year. To me he is in with a very real shot at being the drivers champion and he will be the number 1 at Ferrari at some stage this season or if not certainly next!

[morini]

Well just confirmation that what happened in Australia is still the Ferrari mind set. That has to in some way annoy Leclerc sure he can get his head down and ignore it but that does not change the fact its there and it is another thing he has to deal with.

Two races is not really enough of a picture but colour me shocked if Leclerc does not beat Vettel by the end of the year. To me he is in with a very real shot at being the drivers champion and he will be the number 1 at Ferrari at some stage this season or if not certainly next!

Well I was thinking Mattia Binotto would be a breath of fresh air. How wrong was I?

So far I'm not seeing a major difference between him and Maurizio Arrivabene. Yes Vettel has all the experience, but he needs to conduct his racing approach like a proper "racer" would. Beat your team mate first fella! Yes, if he's two race wins ahead after the summer break then everyone supports his title bid, including Charles. Until then Mattia, please stop being a twat and give your boys an equal chance to challenge for a WDC.

It gets on my tits, it really does. Mr Vettel has blown two golden chances in the last two years and they still back him over someone who is obviously faster (or at least a better racer).

[PapaofGags]

Ferrari brings forward first F1 engine upgrade.

Ferrari will introduce its first engine upgrade of the Formula 1 season at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, two races earlier than planned.

The Italian team intended to wait until the Canadian Grand Prix, round seven of the season, to run its second-specification power unit for the first time.

However, ahead of the weekend, Ferrari has revealed it plans to run the upgraded engine at Barcelona instead, alongside a new lubricant from its technical partner Shell.

Team principal Mattia Binotto said: "We are currently behind in the championship and we have to catch up, which we know means that our development work will be the key to this season.

"Having brought a new aerodynamic package to Baku, we will also bring some developments in this area to Barcelona. On top of that, we will have a new power unit that we are introducing ahead of schedule, as the second specification was due to be brought to Canada.

"Shell, in close collaboration with our team, has developed a different formulation of race lubricant that will also be introduced with the new power unit, delivering increased performance. It's only down to a big team effort with everyone pushing hard to make up ground that we have been able to bring these developments forward."

[forzaferrari]

I dont know if I should be happy or be concerned....why now, why not introduce it for the more power hungry circuits (yes they will prob cycle the spec 1 back in for monaco/singapore etc)...perhaps they have signed Jeremy Clarkson to the engine dept...MORE POWER!!!!! (in my best JC voice)

[Monster Hesh]

Wonder if its to do with the issues we have seen, the fragility of some of its components.

[Jody Barton]

On the one hand this is positive news... On the other it looks pretty dire. Ferrari's spec 1 engine seems great over 1 lap, but it is clear over a race distance there's a deficit to Mercedes, and in Baku let's be clear, Honda were at the very least on a par with them during the race, at the very least, I happen to think Max had more race pace than both Ferrari's. There's clearly an issue with the spec 1 Ferrari engine. We've not mentioned it much, but they're all running new electronic control units, Giovinazzi has a new engine, and Kimi might have new components too, and Haas have reported having "heating issues", which is F1 code for we need to turn the engine down to stop it going bang. Plus we all saw what happened to Leclerc in Bahrain. So, on the one hand if this spec 2 engine fixes all that then great. If it doesn't however then kiss the championship good bye. Then there's the fact Ferrari need to bring their spec 2 engine to Barcelona. That's not good. Sure, Honda and Renault who are supposedly playing catch up, fine. However, Ferrari are supposed to have the best engine, and last year I think they did, but they're clearly having problems. I can't see them not taking engine penalties at this point, I think the spec 2 engine has been brought forward because the spec 1 engines are all close to failure. The turning down of the engines in China and Baku was noticeable across all Ferrari engined cars. We'll see how it all shakes out I guess, but at this point I'd be lying if I said this was a good thing for Ferrari, it isn't, they're very clearly on the back foot.

[morini]

See, I reckon the potential of the Ferrari and Mercedes PU's have been pretty damn close for three seasons now. The difference seems to be Mercedes are better at extracting "what they need" at any given point in the weekend whilst still having an eye on the marathon nature of making all the components last 7 events.

Bringing a new engine in at race 5 isn't a good sign I don't think. I know they can still use PU1, but I can't see any way this isn't going to hurt Ferrari further into the business end of the season. Moreso with the situation wth the control electronics on top. Advantage Mercedes here, it seems.

[forzaferrari]

Nice touch from Seb:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1126530882603450374

[Jody Barton]

Seb is a class guy. He spends a lot of time with fans at tracks too, and does a lot of charity work as well.

[NeilP]

Interesting read:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/48255974

I just think Binotto is in over his head.