After recent defeats, Charles Leclerc is worried Monza won't be a "great track" for Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix.
While the Scuderia finished on the podium at Spa and Zandvoort, the team didn't really feature in the fight for victory with Max Verstappen winning both races.
And after Leclerc only finished third last Sunday thanks to Mercedes leaving Lewis Hamilton out on used tyres during a Safety Car, the Monegasque admitted Ferrari needs to refind their form.
"Not really, we just didn't have the pace. We didn't… we weren't quick enough," he said on if he could have fought for victory in the Netherlands.
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"So this is the main focus at the moment, to try and bring back the speed that we had at the beginning of the season.
"We seem to have lost it, a little bit of pace in the in the long runs especially."
And with Red Bull dominating this year on circuits with plenty of long straights, Leclerc conceded things may not be much better this weekend at Monza.
“On paper, it’s not our best track, unfortunately,” he sighed.
“But anyway, I’m really looking forward to going there. We always have a massive amount of support. And for that, I’m really looking forward to it."
Leclerc also insists he has no concerns about Ferrari following a recent spate of poor decisions and mistakes.
“We need to keep the trust in the team,” he added. “I think this is super important, especially whenever you find more difficult moments.
“Overall as a team, we are very united and I do fully trust the team. We always try to improve the process.
“On my side, I always try to push to be better and better and that’s what we do. Whatever is said outside I try not to pay attention to it and try to focus on ourselves to get better.”
As for the recent drop in pace compared to Red Bull and Mercedes, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto denied the recent technical directive enforced from Spa had played any role.
“We have to understand if these balance problems are the result of set-up choices or if they are the result of the latest developments,” he was quoted by Corriere della Sera.
“It is not the directive itself that is causing us problems, its effects are negligible. Here [in Zandvoort] we have experienced a situation very similar to Budapest where this rule was not there. Regardless of the tyres, we were using, we were not quick.”
