Ferrari confident of Barcelona upgrade boost to catch Red Bull

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto expects the Scuderia to receive a "good boost" from its upgrade package at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc has seen his championship lead slowly eroded away by Max Verstappen with the Red Bull driver topping the podium in each race he has finished this year.

The differing development paths of the two teams has also seen Red Bull leapfrog Ferrari for race pace, with the Milton Keynes-based team bringing incremental gains to most races so far while the Scuderia focus on a handful of larger packages.

“Let’s say that in the next races it will be our turn to try to develop as much as we can by introducing upgrades," said Binotto.

“I think it is not a surprise that we may have a package in Barcelona which will be important for us.

"As usual, I hope that the package we are introducing will work as expected and in that case it can be a good boost in order to try to catch up the current gap we have got to the Red Bull.”

Although Miami saw Verstappen claim back-to-back wins for the first time this year, Binotto remained proud of Ferrari's position at the top of both the drivers' and constructors' standings.

“I always said we should wait for five races to assess the proper competitiveness between the cars," he explained.

"Now, five races have gone and we are leading both championships which is great so we should not be too disappointed."

Ferrari concerned by constant Red Bull gains

F1 is into its second season of racing under a budget cap. With all-new technical regulations introduced this year, the spending limit coupled with restrictions on CFD and wind tunnel usage mean that the rate of development will likely be slower than at the start of other eras.

Despite this, Red Bull has managed to bring upgrades to most races this year with the team gradually improving the RB18.

Questioning how long Red Bull could continue this pattern given the restrictions that are in place, Binotto said: “It is true that Red Bull improved their car [this year]. They have improved it since the very start of the season and they have introduced upgrades.

“If I look at the last two races, maybe they have got a couple of tenths per lap faster than us.

“Now, it is no doubt that in order to keep the pace we will need to develop and bring upgrades. I hope that as there is a budget cap that at some stage, Red Bull will stop developing otherwise I think I will not understand how they can do that."

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