Ferrari did 'homework' to iron out 2018 issues

Sebastian Vettel says that Ferrari has done homework over the winter break to fix the issues it faced throughout the 2018 season.

The Scuderia outfit lost out on the 2018 titles after Vettel made a series of on-track errors, which were coupled by poor management calls throughout the year by senior officials.

Ferrari has changed its team principal over the break, calling in Mattia Binotto to replace Maurizio Arrivabene, while it also promoted Charles Leclerc to the team in place of Kimi Raikkonen.

“It’s a big change but Mattia has been with the team longer than most of the people that work for Ferrari so he is not a new face," Vettel said.

“I think people know him and have learned to trust him. For sure it’s a new challenge for the whole team. 

"We try to turn the page - we obviously had our weaknesses last year and we tried to fix those and do much better this year. So far the spirit is right and the team is on track, the car feels good, so let’s see how we start here.” 

Binotto says that the team have been working hard throughout the off-months, as it looks to dethrone Mercedes in 2019.

"We did our homework during the winter and we are now all focused on the season," the Italian commented. 

“It’s always nice to start here in Australia but it will be a very long and tough season, so just being focused.”

As he heads into his maiden season as a Ferrari driver, Leclerc says he is most looking forward to Saturday's qualifying session.

“Probably qualifying," he answered when asked what he is most looking forward to from Melbourne.

“I think it will be a very good moment and the first time in the season when all the team’s and cars are maxing out their potential so I am very excited to see how it will go.”