Despite the positive prospects before the start of the 2019 Formula One season, Scuderia Ferrari did not manage to win any race so far this year and betting on the Maranello team to do so any time soon would be brave, no surprise as the Italian side lags behind Mercedes an all fronts according to Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies.
Sebastian Vettel’s fortuitous second place finish on the streets of Monaco is the team’s best result in sixth tries so far this season as the SF90 is proving no match for the mighty Mercedes W10. Former FIA man turned Ferrari sporting boss, Laurent Mekies told Auto Hebdo that “we have not progressed as much as we would have liked since the end of the winter tests. In terms of absolute performance, we are behind everywhere, in every area. We need to improve in the way we manage our aero along with the mechanical grip and our tyres.” – he admitted.
“The interaction between what the car does and what the tyres do is one of the main keys to performance. They are different from last year and there is potential for development. We’re still in an exploration phase.”
Despite Scuderia Ferrari being shown up in the first six races of the season, Laurent Mekies sees the positives, “We were not good in Australia, very good in Bahrain, average in China, pretty good in Baku, struggling in Spain and Monaco… We are at 6/0 but we could be 4/2! Ahead of us we have a very strong team (Mercedes) and we have to be perfect everywhere to hope to beat them,” he added.
Next up is the Canadian Grand Prix, a power circuit where Scuderia Ferrari are expected to be more in their comfort zone than they were in Monaco. Laurent Mekies acknowledged, “Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is more like Baku and Bahrain where we were better, but we must remain cautious because things are moving quickly as we have seen since the beginning of the season.”
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