Ferrari is heading into this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix hoping to have rectified the weaknesses it experienced in the season-opening Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Off the back of a strong performance in pre-season testing, Sebastian Vettel could only manage fourth at Albert Park and team-mate Charles Leclerc fifth.
While that performance was down on expectations, of greater concern was that the duo, who finished more or less together on track, were almost a minute behind race winner Valtteri Bottas.
With Bahrain set to offer up a different style of challenge, Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto is hoping the team has understood and resolved the issues which blighted its trip down under.
“The Sakhir circuit has very different characteristics to the Australian one, with traction and braking being key factors,” Binotto said.
“In Bahrain, as a team, we will have to ensure that we have understood and rectified the areas where we were weak in Australia, which therefore meant we were unable to fully exploit our car’s potential.
“In Bahrain, we expect to see the effect of the corrections we have made, although we are well aware that our competitors will once again be very strong.
“With that in mind, we are keen to get back on track and face up to them.”
Ferrari currently sits second in the constructors’ championship owing to its fourth and fifth place finishes in Melbourne, though on 22 points it has just half that of leaders Mercedes.
The Bahrain Grand Prix begins on Friday, with opening practice set to start at 2200 AEDT.