Ferrari aim to provide sidetrack from crisis
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Ferrari equipment at Albert Park circuit for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix. The Italian team are seeking a 10th win in Australia.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
MELBOURNE • Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto yesterday urged his team to "put a smile on people's faces" at the Australian Grand Prix as Italy went into lockdown to combat the global coronavirus outbreak.
Most teams, including the Scuderia, are already in Melbourne or en route for Sunday's season opener, which organisers said will go ahead as scheduled in front of packed grandstands despite the increasing spread of the disease.
In contrast, all sporting events in Italy have been suspended until April 3 as part of tough measures announced by Italy Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to tackle the Covid-19 contagion.
The disease had infected 9,172 people and caused 463 deaths in Italy, mainly in the northern region, as of yesterday.
Bahrain, the second race of the F1 season, will be held on March 22 behind closed doors for the first time in the competition's history. The Gulf state has about 110 cases.
Ferarri said in a statement that despite it being "a very difficult time in Italy" the Australian GP would start as planned and the Scuderia "will be there".
Binotto added that he hoped the Maranello-based team and the race weekend as a whole could help take people's minds off the crisis.
"It is our obligation to try and put a smile on people's faces as they prepare to watch the first race of the season with the same sense of anticipation as ourselves," the team principal said.
The Prancing Horse head into the campaign with a new SF1000 car, which is narrower than last season's SF90, and with a deeper red colouring.
The team are pinning their hopes on the machine earning the drivers' and constructors' titles that have eluded them for 12 and 11 years respectively.
"After a long winter working on building and developing our car, the time has come to get a first indication of our performance level and how effective are the improvements we have introduced over the past few months," said Binotto.
"We know that the opposition is strong, but we also know that it is the start of a long season where development rate, reliability, and our operational effectiveness will be key."
Ferrari have nine victories in Australia, with Sebastian Vettel last winning in 2018.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
