Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur says the team are “going in the right direction” after the Canadian Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz drove strong races on a different strategy to rivals, climbing from 10th and 11th on the grid to finish fourth and fifth.
Leclerc said: “The feeling with the car was better than in the first part of the season… so it’s positive.
“But fourth is not where we want to be. We want to be fighting for first position again.”
Leclerc said he was “very happy” with the “very happy” with the car’s performance in Montreal, but he and Vasseur cautioned against drawing too many conclusions because of the unique nature of the layout of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Its combination of mainly slow-speed corners and a low-abrasion surface meant it allowed Ferrari to exploit the car’s strengths while not exposing its weaknesses in higher-speed bends with excessive tyre usage.
Ferrari have suffered with major inconsistency and unpredictability in their car’s handling, which has caused both drivers to have crashes this season, and are trying to address the behaviour with design changes.
Leclerc and Vasseur said they would wait at least until the next race weekend in Austria from 30 June to 2 July before believing Ferrari had genuinely turned a corner.
Leclerc said: “It felt good, but this track is very particular so I would wait for Austria to hopefully confirm what we felt this weekend.”
Vasseur pointed out that once slower cars were out of their way after Ferrari decided not to pit under an early safety car, Leclerc was able to match the pace of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, which finished second.
“The last stint we did with the same tyres as Alonso for almost the same number of laps and it was plus or minus one second (difference between the cars) after 30 laps,” Vasseur said.
“You can always say (race winner Max) Verstappen was not flat out, but I don’t think that his personality is like this. Compared to two or three races ago, we finished 10 seconds behind and it was almost the (same) gap (as) at the end of lap one.”
‘Leclerc admitted he was wrong’
Sainz said he believed Ferrari’s competitiveness would continue to fluctuate.
“Our pace in Austria will depend also in the characteristics of the circuit,” the Spaniard said. “Our pace varies a lot depending on that.
“We’ve seen places like Monaco or Canada, we are stronger than places with higher-speed corners like Barcelona, where we struggle a bit more. I think we will see variance in our competitiveness.”
Vasseur said Ferrari would have a meeting in the factory at Maranello on Tuesday to discuss the events of qualifying in Canada, in which Leclerc failed to progress into the top 10 shoot-out and then criticised the team’s strategy choices, and Sainz was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.
But Vasseur defended Ferrari’s decision to reject Leclerc’s call to pit immediately for dry-weather slick tyres before setting a time on intermediates on a drying track, and said Leclerc had withdrawn his criticism after the team explained the situation to him.
Vasseur said: “We had a good discussion. Leclerc admitted: ‘OK, I was wrong. I’m sorry.’
“I am always trying to protect my guys – the drivers – for the team. I can perfectly understand when they jump out of the car after a bad result and they are asked: ‘Were you happy with the strategy?’ For sure he (will) say: ‘No.’
“You will never find drivers saying: ‘I am screwed, but it was super.’
“The most important thing is that sometimes it is better to talk with the team before. It was what we did. It was constructive and direct.”
Aston Martin introduced an aerodynamic upgrade on their car in Canada. Mercedes, who finished third with Lewis Hamilton, have further changes due on their car at the British Grand Prix after Austria, following a major overhaul two races ago in Spain.
Vasseur said Ferrari, who had their own upgrade in Spain, would have more developments for their car in Austria.
“We bring some parts next week in Austria and we try to continue to develop the car step by step,” the Frenchman said. “I am not a big fan of having a big package (of new parts). It is better for us to continue to develop in the same direction.”