For the second time in three Formula 1 races, Ferrari lacked the race pace not only to challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull, but was also challenged by Mercedes, despite performing strongly in qualifying.
Speaking after the Dutch Grand Prix, team principal Mattia Binotto described the lack of pace in the last three races as the “main concern”, with Ferrari now having gone five events without a victory.
Although Ferrari missed out on pole position both in Hungary and the Netherlands, it had the pace to top qualifying on both occasions. Setting aside Spa, where Red Bull had a crushing advantage, Ferrari’s single-lap pace has been significantly stronger than that of its race runs with tyre degradation proving to be a problem.
“It’s three races in a row that we don’t have the pace on Sunday and I think [Zandvoort] was quite a parallel to Hungary,” said Binotto.
“This weekend, we had a good qualifying and we are being competitive. But then in the race, we are not competitive enough. And that makes life a lot more difficult, not only because we cannot fight for the win with Max but because then we do not have the pace to keep Mercedes behind.
“It’s now three races where we have not produced what should be our potential and what we have proved to have as the potential of the car since the start of the season. And that’s something that we need to address as soon as possible, because there are a few races left.
“We still are looking for victories and our intention is to try to win every race, and that includes Monza.
“We need to react and Monza with our tifosi there after COVID will be important for us, because they will certainly cheer for us and boost us as a team which right now we need.”
What Ferrari needs to understand now is whether the failure to extract the potential reflects not making the most of the package it has, or lies in not fulfilling its development potential in recent months.
Prior to its current five-race win drought, Ferrari won at Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring, the latter primarily thanks to better tyre management than Verstappen and Red Bull.
Asked by The Race whether the failure to produce its potential lay in using the performance that’s in the car or in the way it has been upgraded, Binotto was equivocal.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” said Binotto. “I think it’s something which we need to look at reviewing.
“Is it the car itself which is not fast enough? Is it the car balance which is more difficult and tricky? It may be on the single lap you can run fast but then in a race you lose confidence and you do not have the right feeling in the car.
“So I don’t know the answer but certainly the experience of the race give us some more data to analyse because we need to react.”
Carlos Sainz felt that overworking the rear tyres and an unpredictable rear end were the limiting factors for him during the Dutch GP.
He finished fifth on the road but was relegated to eight thanks to a five-second penalty for an unsafe release, having not had the pace in the closing stages to build a big enough gap to preserve his position.
“It’s in race pace that we are missing,” said Sainz.
“I’m not happy with how the car felt in the race. It was super tricky to drive, we were always fighting the rear a lot, we had a lot of tyre overheating.
“We need to find why the car is not as strong in the races as it is in qualifying.”
Charles Leclerc, who finished third at Zandvoort, echoed the concerns about race pace.
He felt he was competitive on soft rubber at Zandvoort, but slower than expected on the mediums and hards.
“Everybody is obviously improving, but in the last races we’ve been struggling more a bit more in race pace,” said Leclerc.
“Now Mercedes is also in the fight and they are very quick, especially on the harder compounds [at Zandvoort].
“Our pace on the soft was really good at the beginning. We had used tyres, Max was on new, so I think the difference was more or less what we expected.
“But then, on the new medium, we were slower than expected.”
Keyword: Ferrari needs to address its worrying F1 trend