Sebastian Vettel says Formula 1 staying on at the same venue for another race weekend provides a “massive opportunity” for him and the team to address its woes.
Ferrari lacked performance at the Austrian Grand Prix while Vettel in particular struggled with the balance of the SF1000, spinning mid-race.
Vettel commented afterwards that he was fortunate to spin only once and expressed a lack of confidence in the car, suggesting it did not have the same feel as earlier in the weekend.
Ferrari has accelerated its development and some updates meant for Hungary have been brought to Austria for the second event.
“You always have certain expectations [of updates] but the best answer is the stopwatch,” he said.
“On track, one is what we feel and the other one is the times that we are clocking. I am excited about it, it will be interesting to see a direct comparison to last weekend where we will end up.
“I think it’s a massive opportunity for us for the race to be held at exactly the same place so I hope we will get some answers.
“We had obviously a close look at the race, my race performance in particular which was off compared to the weekend so far or up to that point.
“We have found a couple of things, I mean it’s hard to say how much of a difference those things were making.
“I think I have a very good memory, first of all a good idea of how it should feel, secondly a good memory of how it used to feel when everything was right and how it felt then in the race.
“So tomorrow will be an important day for us in that regard but also in regard to the upgrade to see if everything is bringing the step we expected.”
Leclerc, who finished second last weekend, cautioned that Ferrari cannot expect a giant stride forward.
“We are bringing some updates on the car, we don’t know how much we’ll gain and if it will put us in contention for the podium but realistically it is going to be very difficult because Red Bull and Mercedes are very, very quick,” he said.
“If we can be on the podium with pure performance… I don’t think so, but we are working to change this.”
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