Ferrari will wait until the Hungarian Grand Prix later in July to introduce an aerodynamic overhaul of their SF1000 car.
The Scuderia has always admitted the performance of their 2020 machine has been below what was expected, with Mercedes and Red Bull considered to be quite a bit ahead in the pecking order.
And now the scale of those issues have been revealed because, while many teams are bringing pre-planned car updates for earlier this year to Spielberg, Ferrari have had to change path.
“The truth is that the outcome of the tests led us to take a significant change of direction in terms of development, especially on the aerodynamic front,” said team boss Mattia Binotto on Tuesday.
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“First, we had to understand why we did not see the results we had expected on track and how much to recalibrate the whole programme as a result.
“It would have been counterproductive to continue in the direction we had planned, knowing that we would not have reached our goals,” he conceded.
“Therefore we decided to come up with a new programme that looked at the whole car, knowing that not all of it would be ready for the first race.
“Our aim is to introduce the updates at the third race on 19 July at the Hungaroring.
“Apart from that, over and above the actual development of the car itself, these past few weeks we have worked a lot on analysing its behaviour, with simulation work and with the help of our drivers and I think that will prove its worth in Austria.”
Despite the pessimism, the Ferrari boss does believe the Red Bull Ring could suit the one area the team is more competitive in, straight-line speed, and so there could be a chance to do some damage limitation before Budapest.
“We know that, at the moment, we don’t have the fastest package,” Binotto stated. “We knew it before heading for Melbourne and that hasn’t changed.
“Having said that, the Spielberg circuit has different characteristics to Montmelo (Barcelona) and the temperatures will be well above those of February.
“In Austria, we must try and make the most of every opportunity and then in Hungary, with the new development step we are working on, we will be able to see where we are really compared to the others, while having to take into account the developments our competitors themselves will have brought along.”