Ferrari not expecting major improvement anytime soon – Binotto

After their impressive showing in pre-season testing, big things were expected of Ferrari this year. But six races in, a single second place is their best result to date. That has to change soon, though, right? Unlikely – at least according to Team Principal Mattia Binotto.

Ferrari’s SF90 has displayed excellent straight-line speed, with its power unit generally considered to be the best on the grid. However, in the handling, balance and tyre departments the Italian team have trailed their Mercedes – and often Red Bull – rivals.

And the bad news for drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc is that the team are not expecting to have the answers to their problems anytime soon.

“We know we’re not competitive enough right now,” said Binotto, “and, for the time being we haven’t got any more changes coming on the car that will have a significant effect on the problems we have encountered since the start of the season.”

Though Ferrari scored their best result of the year last time out in Monaco, thanks to Vettel’s second place, it was still largely a weekend to forget for the Scuderia. The team’s ongoing problems getting the tyres into the right operating window continued, and an avoidable strategic blunder saw Leclerc eliminated in the first phase of qualifying.

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Binotto is understandably keen for the team not to dwell on such errors as they look ahead to this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal – on paper a track far better suited to the SF90 and one on which Vettel was victorious last year.

“The Canadian track characteristics present another different challenge, given that top speed, braking efficiency and traction are the main considerations,” he added. “We arrive here ready to do our best and to put the mistakes of the last few races behind us.”

Vettel won comfortably in 2018 at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, leading home the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas by over seven seconds.