A fifth and sixth placed finish in Mexico does not look too unimpressive on paper for Ferrari, however, the Scuderia were never really in contention for the podium places, being left behind by the Mercedes and Red Bulls from the very start.
In the latter stages of the race a pit stop saw Sergio Perez forced to fight his way through the Ferrari’s but surprisingly this weekend they were unable to put up any real resistance as the Mexican charged through to a P3 finish in his home race.
Charles Leclerc was left annoyed by his inability to fight at the front with his rivals, stating that he expects this to be a one off occurrence.
“There wasn’t much we could have done more to be honest,” he suggested.
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“I hope it won’t be worse than this, because I don’t expect any race worse than this.
“It’s probably one of the worst races, together with Spa, this one.
“I honestly believe that it is a one off. But for the future we need to understand what we can do better in those conditions for us to be better.”
Ferrari’s car has been arguably the best on the grid at times this year, pushing Red Bull right to the end of some races and picking up numerous pole positions and victories on merit.
It has been the teams decision making and strategy that has cost them this season, so to see the actual car now letting the drivers down is something new for the team to ponder.
Team principal Mattia Binotto has admitted that he is baffled by the reason the car struggled to perform this weekend.
“In terms of power unit, we were not at our best performance for the weekend, but I don’t think that’s explaining the most. That’s part of the equation, but there is more than that,” he explained.
“There is certainly more than that, and it’s something which we need to look at and there is not a clear answer right now.”
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Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz expressed their troubled driver the car this weekend and Binotto hopes to learn a bit about their shortcomings when the drivers give their feedback to the team.
“The ride was not great. The balance was not great. I’m pretty sure if I’m listening at the drivers later on in the debriefing, they will tell me that the car was not turning right and the reason why I think it has to be looked at and we have not a clear explanation right now,” he said.
The Ferrari’s had a weekend to forget from the very start, with it starting with Leclerc’s crash in qualifying and ending in a fairly dull and uneventful P5 and P6 finish for the team.