Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has cautioned that the team cannot expect to emerge in contention when it introduces updates to its SF1000 in Hungary, following a lacklustre display in Austria.
Ferrari had only the fifth-fastest car in qualifying as it struggled with its SF1000 and in race trim Charles Leclerc was a subdued sixth early on, before rising through the chaos to take second.
Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, mustered only 10th – ahead of just Nicholas Latifi – after a spin, having been eliminated in Q2.
Ferrari is set to bring a raft of updates to the third event in Hungary but Binotto has warned that they will not fix all of the issues.
The squad is not bringing updates to its power unit due to the freeze under modified regulations – with Binotto reckoning it was losing seven-tenths of a second on Red Bull Ring’s straights.
“I think that what we have seen in Austria is very similar to Barcelona,” said Binotto.
“We need to improve our car, there are some mis-correlations as you have seen with the design, the car behaviour, especially on the aero, that is the development we have started again, [since we have been] back from the lockdown, and that [updates] hopefully we will have very soon at the race track.
“It will not be the final solution, there is no silver bullet, what’s important for us is to improve the type of behaviours.
“If I look at the qualifying, compared to the pole, we are missing a second, and of the second, three-tenths is cornering, but then there is still seven-tenths on the power unit, the straights, and I think that one will be very much difficult, because engine is frozen for the season.
“[We have a deficit] on the straights and it [is also] about the drag and the drag is not something we are addressing very soon, so a bit of disappointment yesterday to see our speed on the straight so let’s analyse our data and see what we can do in the future.”
Binotto hinted that Ferrari will try and ready some new components for next weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix at the same venue.
“Certainly next week it is a very short time from here to there, the people at Maranello are really working very hard day and night on whatever we could,” he said.
“I think it’s too early now to know if we anticipate any of the developments here in Austria next week, we are hopeful, so let’s wait and see.”
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