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ESPN staff
Ferrari has unveiled the car it hopes can halt Meredes’ recent dominance of Formula One and end its own decade-long wait for a championship.
The Italian team took the covers off its new car, the SF90, at an event at its factory in Maranello, Italy, where new signing Charles Leclerc appeared alongside Sebastian Vettel. The highly-rated Leclerc is a long-time member of the Ferrari academy and moved up to the famous team after an impressive rookie season at Sauber (now Alfa Romeo) last year.
Ferrari’s last title was the constructors’ in 2008, while its last drivers’ title was Kimi Raikkonen’s the year before. Last year appeared to have been its best chance in recent memory to win again, but a series of mistakes from Vettel and from the strategy department cost the team dearly. The failure to win last year prompted a reshuffle of the race operation, with team prinicpal Maurizio Arrivabene replaced by popular technical chief Mattia Binotto in January.
As well as 2019 marking the 90th anniversary of Enzo Ferrari founding his famous company, there is an added incentive in F1’s record books to stopping Mercedes this year. If the German manufacturer wins another championship, it will match the record of six straight constructors’ titles Ferrari won between 1999 and 2004.
More to follow…