Binotto on Ferrari race pace: 'There is still room for improvement'

Especially the performances during the races in Monaco and Baku were fantastic, with pole position for Charles LeClerc twice. Nevertheless, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto thinks that these results are not representative of Ferrari's current situation and position. This he tells Motorsport.com "It was great to take pole position in Monaco and Baku, but that doesn't reflect our real speed." He certainly sees Mercedes and Red Bull being even faster and more consistent than the red cars.

"I think there are two cars ahead of us that are clearly stronger, without a doubt. But we are making progress. We are making progress because we are learning about the car and we are using the car better than at the beginning of the season. We also know that there will be some developments in the future. So that's where we are in my opinion. In the race, I think we were hoping for a bit better speed, especially after seeing the qualifying."

Ferrari performance during the race

Where Ferrari is already quite close to Mercedes and Red Bull especially during qualifying, this is definitely not the case during the race. This was also clear in Baku at the start of the race. The Italian does have an explanation for this.

"We knew we would have a hard time on the soft. It's a fact that we had the hardest time on that tyre. On the hard tyre, we were competitive in free air because I think Carlos' speed in free air was representative. We definitely need to improve our speed in the race, without a doubt. But I don't think we were mediocre in free air. We were struggling in dirty air and both drivers mentioned that. So that's also what our analysis is going to focus on." If Ferrari can make a move during the race, third place in the constructors' championship seems a very realistic target.