McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella expects Ferrari to be a serious threat in Barcelona despite the Italian squad continuing to downplay its chances.
Charles Leclerc missed out on a second victory at his home Grand Prix, finishing in second place behind the McLaren of Lando Norris.
Before the race weekend in Monaco, the Monegasque was adamant that the team would struggle around the streets of Monte Carlo.
But heading into qualifying, Leclerc was denied pole by just over a tenth at a track that he believed didn’t suit the SF-25’s characteristics, particularly with the low-speed corners.
Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, the 27-year-old remains convinced the Scuderia cannot sustain its Monaco form.
He argues that Ferrari could address its low-speed issues without compromising performance elsewhere because of the layout of the circuit, but said this advantage couldn’t be repeated at other tracks, like Barcelona.
Although Ferrari has understated its chances following Monaco, Stella believes they will deliver a strong performance in Spain.
“I’m very interested, myself, to see where Ferrari will be in a circuit like Barcelona,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I think we have ahead of us some circuits that will be like Silverstone, I think it will be more of the category of Saudi, Imola, for instance, and I expect Red Bull to be very strong there.
“I think some low-speed stuff like Canada, I would expect, hopefully, McLaren to be competitive.
“Barcelona, I think, is a little bit in the middle, considering how fast Ferrari was in corner 3, 4 and corner 12, I think they can be fast in Barcelona as well.
“So, I’m afraid we will have to see, and I have to study a bit better and come more prepared and create an anticipation of how we can classify corner circuits looking forward.”
READ MORE – Why Ferrari is unconvinced it can sustain Monaco form in Spain
Discussion about this post