Charles Leclerc hopes Ferrari can benefit from the greater amount of wind tunnel testing the team is likely to get under a new system in 2021.
Earlier this year, Formula 1 teams agreed to a change which sees those who finish higher up the Constructors’ standings given much less time to work on aero development than those who finish lower down the standings.
That means, if the championship ended today, Mercedes, who are set to be champions, would get 12.5% less wind tunnel time than Ferrari would for finishing down in sixth.
And Leclerc sees the potential under that system for the Scuderia to close the gap more quickly.
“I think the scope of this rule was to try and recalibrate a little bit and to help the teams that are struggling,” he said via RaceFans. “And the fact is that we are struggling at the moment so this can obviously help us in a way.
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“I would much prefer to be fighting higher already this season, but it is the way it is,” the Monegasque added.
“So for now hopefully we can take a bit of advantage with that and try to recover what we are struggling with at the moment.”
In recent races, Ferrari has been making some progress thanks to upgrades aimed at fixing the main issues with the SF1000 chassis.
Leclerc used those improvements to qualify fourth at the Nurburgring, before slipping back a little in the race to seventh, and team boss Mattia Binotto is pleased by what he’s seen so far.
“I think we were not expecting a lot of difference,” he said of the impact from the new parts. “It was a small upgrade and it was completing a package we started introducing in Russia.
“The positive is that it was correlating well with what we saw in the wind tunnel and back in the factory. And that somehow means we are moving the car in the right direction.
“There will be some more further upgrades during the remainder of the season, which will be as well important. And for us, what’s key is the team developing the car, and more importantly, making sure the direction we are taking the car is the right one.”