The car's designation "SF1000" refers to Ferrari's one thousandth Grand Prix entry, which was originally due to occur at the 2020 Monaco Grand Prix. However, due to the cancellation and postponement of several races, its 1000th race was at the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel continued his tradition of naming his cars, this time calling it "Lucilla".
As a consequence of the technical regulations being largely unchanged for the 2020 season, the SF1000 was designed as an evolution of its predecessor the SF90, with team principal Mattia Binotto stating: "The starting point for this car was the SF90 but we have been extreme with all the concepts as much as we could". The SF1000's centre of gravity was lowered through lowering elements of its cooling system. The initial release of the car showed that it also featured narrower sidepod inlets, tighter rear bodywork and more complex bargeboard components.
Following the 2019 season, the FIA launched an investigation into Ferrari's power unit following claims that it had violated the technical regulations' provisions on fuel flow restrictions. The investigation concluded with no penalty being given to Ferrari as no case could be proven. However, the FIA tightened the fuel flow provisions for the 2020 season and introduced a second fuel flow sensor. The SF1000 was slower for the 2020 season, with GPS analysis suggesting that it had lost 65 bhp (48 kW) in comparison to the SF90.
Prior to the start of the delayed 2020 season, Binotto revealed that for the Austrian Grand Prix the team would use the same configuration of the SF1000 that appeared in pre-season testing.
At the first race, the Austrian Grand Prix, Leclerc and Vettel could only qualify seventh and 11th respectively. During the race, Leclerc took advantage of the retirements of both Red Bulls and a time penalty for Lewis Hamilton to finish an unexpected second, whereas Vettel finished 10th having spun during an overtake attempt.
The team brought forward some of their planned updates to the Styrian Grand Prix, however the SF1000 did not fare much better in the rain-affected qualifying session with Vettel and Leclerc qualifying only 10th and 11th respectively.
Vettel and Leclerc qualified fifth and sixth respectively for the Hungarian Grand Prix. This was the first time in 2020 that both Ferraris had reached the third qualifying session, albeit qualifying over 1.3 seconds behind pole-sitter Hamilton and behind both Racing Point cars. Vettel finished sixth having recovered from a slow pit stop, however Leclerc finished outside the points in 11th.
Leclerc and Vettel qualified ninth and 11th respectively for the Spanish Grand Prix. Leclerc retired from the race with an ECU issue, whereas Vettel took advantage of an "unplanned" one-stop strategy to hold onto seventh place in the closing laps.
The SF1000 struggled at the Belgian Grand Prix; neither car reached Q3 for the first time in 2020, with Leclerc and Vettel qualifying only 13th and 14th respectively. Leclerc's SF1000 was 10 km/h (6.2 mph) slower through the circuit's speed trap than his predecessor SF90 was a year prior.
At the Scuderia home race at Monza, the SF1000 failed to reach Q2 for the first time with Vettel qualifying 17th. Leclerc could qualify only 13th. Vettel suffered a brake failure in the early laps and retired from the race. Leclerc was running in fourth place before suffering a high-speed accident at the final corner.
To mark the team's 1000th Grand Prix at the Tuscan Grand Prix, the SF1000 appeared in a burgundy livery in honour of Ferrari's first racing car, the 125 S.
The SF1000 collected only a single point over the final three races of the season. At the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Leclerc qualified ninth and Vettel qualified 13th in his final race for the team. Both cars fell back in the race, eventually finishing 13th and 14th.
The SF1000 took Ferrari to sixth place in the constructors' championship, the team's worst result since finishing 10th with the Ferrari 312T5 in 1980.
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Notes † Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the winner's race distance.
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