As the summer break ends, all eyes are on Ferrari with team boss Mattia Binotto quietly raising expectations for both the Belgian and Italian Grand Prix’s.
The low downforce requirements at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza should play directly to the Scuderia’s engine advantage, just as it did in Bahrain and Canada earlier this season.
A more technical middle sector this weekend in Belgium could offer Mercedes and Red Bull some hope, however, and Binotto isn’t getting carried away.
“I think [Spa and Monza] are more power-sensitive, so we should certainly be more [successful] there, but there is nothing that is given,” he told Formula1.com.
“I think our competitors are all very strong and we try to challenge ourselves, but I think the situation will be different to Budapest and we will try to prepare ourselves the best to seek the first victory [of the year].”
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Perhaps the biggest risk other than rain for Ferrari is reliability problems, with niggling issues impacting the team at key moments in 2019.
Binotto though played down a suggestion that his promotion to the position of team boss and technical director could have played a role.
“I don’t think that’s the cause even if I do not have an answer at the moment, to be honest, but it’s true that many problems occurred which should not,” he accepted.
“I don’t think anything has changed compared to the last year or the year before, it’s true as well that we have never been too strong on the reliability in the past seasons, so it’s something that should be, in terms of the overall approach to the development, addressed.
“Sometimes it’s only a matter of priority, a priority on developments over reliability and this depends on where you are in a position [in the championship].
“But as well, you don’t fix reliability by only fixing the problems you got, you fix reliability by having the right approach to the reliability, and that’s something which at the moment we are brainstorming.”