F1 news - Ferrari : Mercedes' claims about our engine are incorrect
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ByEurosport
Updated 27/02/2020 at 12:01 GMT
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto disagrees with Mercedes's suggestions they were running their F1 engine at a different level to its customer teams.
Binotto
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Mercedes hinted in a press release they did not believe their rival had been showing their engine's full potential, a claim which Binotto opposes.
"Mercedes seems to be very much aware of what we are doing, but it's not correct," the 50-year-old told Autosport.
Binotto admits Ferrari is not as quick as it wants to be, highlighting their lack of straight-line speed, and will therefore start the season behind Mercedes.
"We believe that we are not the fastest car at the moment, so I think on lap time we will be behind [at] the start of the season," he said.
"What are we lacking? The car of this season compared to the one of last season is overall faster, but we are faster in the corners, slower on the straights.
"This was an objective in designing that car. We knew last year that we were too slow in the corners, so we tried to put as much down-force as we could on the car to [make it] as fast as possible in the corners.
"But now we are paying [for it] on the straights. I still think in terms of overall balance, set-up, slow-speed corners, it's something where we need to improve.
"But that's part of the job and the task for this week."
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