Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has admitted that the team are prioritising improving the SF-23, before discussing new contracts for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Both drivers are soon to be in need of a new deal, as their current contracts expire at the end of next season.
Given the team’s current issues though, Vasseur has put contract negotiations to the side for the time being, with there already being so much to do with the “development of the car”.
Ferrari endured another woeful race at the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, as Sainz finished fifth despite having started second, whilst Leclerc finished P11.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
The Monegasque started from the pit-lane after Ferrari replaced the entire rear of his car, following a shock Q1 elimination.
Leclerc was seriously struggling in qualifying; however, nobody knew why.
Ferrari have some serious problems to solve to understand what’s causing their inconsistency, making delaying contract talks an understandable decision.
“I think you asked me the same question one week ago and I told you that, so far, we have enough to do with the development of the car, that we have a lot to do on the technical side, and we’ll speak about drivers a bit later,” he said ahead of the Spanish GP, as reported by Motorsportweek.com.
Despite Ferrari having encountered some sort of problem at most races this season, Vasseur is continuing to focus on one race at a time.
READ: Renault CEO breaks his silence on Ferrari speculation
The hope is that eventually Ferrari will start to show progress on a Grand Prix basis, something they can track by focusing on an event at a time.
“Honestly, that I’m taking the race one after one and I’m thinking about the next one that it’s difficult to predict where we’ll be in six month time in term of development and we have to be realistic,” Vasseur said.
“But you never know what could happen and you never know also what will be the right of development over the next couple of weeks or months. But let’s take the races one after one and to be focused on what we are doing on track.”