Ferrari aren’t that far away from Red Bull claims team principal Stefano Domenicali, but admitted there is a “big gap” to Mercedes.
Whilst Fernando Alonso finished fourth, nine seconds behind Sebastian Vettel, the Italian believes that was down to tyre difficulties for the team, rather than outright pace.
“I don’t think the gap to Red Bull was that big to be honest,” he said.
“With these hard tyres in this heat the drivers were complaining about traction, about the fact they did not feel the cars as they wanted.
“I think to Mercedes there is a big gap, but with Red Bull and the others we are more or less close to that field, but we need to aim to be on top. For sure, what we have seen is not easy to solve, but I have asked my engineers to make sure that they know what they have to do and put in a plan to close that gap, because it’s pretty clear.”
It’s thought that Ferrari’s biggest deficit to Mercedes in particular is straight-line speed, but Domenicali argued that it’s a number of things including aerodynamics.
“When we speak about the power unit, it could be the power delivery,” he explained. “It’s part mechanical and part electric, and that’s an important part, but also on the car side I want to make sure the aerodynamic parts of the car is more efficient and better. I think that has improved but not enough.”
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