Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto says he is “not as optimistic” as he was at this stage 12 months ago, and believes the squad is behind its rivals.
Ferrari led the way in winter testing in 2019 but went on to fall behind Mercedes, and scored only three wins as it finished a distant runner-up in the championship.
Mercedes has led the way through winter testing so far in 2020, with Valtteri Bottas clocking a best time of 1:15.732 in Barcelona.
Ferrari’s quickest time so far is a 1:18.154, set by Sebastian Vettel on Thursday.
“I am not as optimistic as last year, some of the others are faster than us at the moment, I believe, how much faster is really difficult to judge and I will go through all the data in the next few days,” said Binotto.
“But I don’t think we are as fast as them at the moment.
“Do we have any concerns? Certainly, yes, when you are not as fast as you would like to be.
“But I think it is too early to define it and understand it.
“These three days have been really important for us, because at least we have collected all the data and have a clear picture and better understanding.
“What will be even more important is to understand that we are developing the car in the right direction but it is a very long season with 22 races potentially so I think there will be time to recover eventually.
“Let’s wait for next week and Australia until we assess properly the true performance of everybody.
“We should not forget the history of last year. Let’s wait until next week and wait for Australia to better understand the true picture.”
On the changes Ferrari will make to its car between now and Australia, Binotto said: “It will not differ much, not for Australia but I think there is still much potential to optimise in the current package.”
