Wolff: Didn’t see true Ferrari pace in testing

Four weeks ahead of the new season, Toto Wolff has his suspicions that Ferrrai’s form won’t be as poor in Austria as it was in testing.

Unlike in previous years, Ferrari failed to shine during pre-season testing.

Initially the Scuderia put that down to focusing on the long game rather than the winter testing championships.

However, as time went on, there were murmurs that Ferrari’s 2020 car, the SF1000, is not up to scratch.

Ferrari later admitted just that with team boss Mattia Binotto saying he is worried about how the team will perform in the early races.

Those early races have been on hold as the start of the 2020 season was stopped short in its tracks back in March.

Instead the championship will begin next month with a double header at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Mercedes motorsport boss Wolff reckons that’s when F1 will truly see Ferrari’s pace.

“The Ferrari engine was very strong last season, and I think we haven’t yet seen the true power of the Ferrari engine in winter testing,” Wolff told Motorsport-Total.com.

“Only in qualifying [in Austria] will we finally be able to see where everyone stands, but as always, I’m very pessimistic.

“On our side, we need to close the gap with Ferrari and make sure we have a reliable and solid power unit.”

Ferrari, though, isn’t Mercedes’ only competition.

Wolff added: “Nor should we exclude Honda and Renault, because the level seems to be fairly uniform.”

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