Has Grosjean Accidentally Revealed Why Ferrari Are Struggling This Year?

An issue which Haas has been struggling with on its car might explain why Ferrari have been so uncompetitive this season.

The Haas F1 Team’s decision to drop Romain Grosjean has, unsurprisingly, made the Frenchman more open about the shortcomings of the team’s 2020 car.

He recently revealed that a suspension overheating issue has plagued the team all season and made the Haas VF-20 very difficult to drive.

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“We’re struggling with the rear suspension overheating, meaning that the platform, the right height, keeps changing at the rear. From one lap to the other we can pick up to 4 percent of aero balance,” Grosjean said after being knocked out of Q1 at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

“When it gets hot at the end of third practice you get the ride height and then it cools down – and then you start qualifying with a different one and every lap the rear suspension heats up and the rear ride height changes,” he added.

“Normally we’re struggling a little bit but this weekend the magnitude is quite bigger and we’ve got no idea why.”

Continuing, the Frenchman said: “We’ve had the issue all year long but this weekend it has been, for some reason, really exaggerated. So we’re struggling with that. The car is never the same from one lap to the others. We’re not very confident for tomorrow and how it’s going to end.”

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner confirmed that they have been struggling with this issue and said they are looking to address it over the rest of the season.

Aside from this issue hurting Haas’ chances of having a good 2020 campaign, it may also explain why the Ferrari SF1000 has been so uncompetitive – and why Sebastian Vettel in particular has been struggling this year.

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Haas has a broad technical partnership with Ferrari and the American racing outfit uses the same rear suspension as that on the SF1000, so the Maranello-based team may also be struggling with the same suspension overheating issue.

And, as Sebastian Vettel is known to much prefer a car with a very stable and predictable rear end, this could explain why the four-time World Champion has been off the pace relative to team-mate Charles Leclerc this season.

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