Ferrari concedes fighting for third will be "very difficult"
Ferrari concedes that it is now going to be "very difficult" to get involved in the fight for third in the Formula 1 constructors' championship.
The Italian outfit had hoped to close in on Renault, McLaren and Racing Point to move up from its current sixth spot in the standings.
It currently has 103 points, and is 31 behind McLaren and Racing Point, with Renault another point further clear of these two teams.
However, with Sebastian Vettel struggling to get regularly in the points, and Ferrari not quite having the pace to lead the midfield battle, time appears to be running out for it to make good gains.
Team principal Mattia Binotto said Ferrari was eager to do better, but admitted that there may not be enough opportunities left for it to make progress.
"Certainly I think that to try to move up in the championship will be great, but if you look at [Imola], we didn't gain any points and we lost [ground] to one team," he said, in reference to Renault's podium with Daniel Ricciardo.
"The battle is very tight, but I think that the car has improved. So we will try, and I think certainly our objective is try to catch up someone. But there are only four races to go, so it will be somehow very difficult."
Ferrari has endured a difficult 2020 campaign, with a down-on-power engine and a car that was not aerodynamically efficient enough.
The outfit has been open that its bid to get back to the front of the grid is a long-term project, with Binotto telling Sky Italia that its target is to fight for regular podiums next year.
"We got the project wrong, looking for a path of development that turned out to be wrong," said Binotto. "Then COVID arrived, stopping [work on the car], and this penalised us for the whole season.
"We had to comply with the measures that caused nine weeks of work stoppage, plus immediately afterwards it was decided to freeze the 2020 projects. I see this season in a different context than normal but we will be able to react.
"We have very challenging goals for 2021. I see a very united team that wants to do well. It feels the weight of responsibility and the desire to redeem itself.
"Next year we will have a completely new engine that is running well on the test bench. We have ideas about the car, but we can't work miracles with windtunnel hours reduced compared to the past. But I'm sure this team is alive, and we'll take it a step further. Now it's up to us to prove it.
"Realistically Ferrari will not be able to fight for the world title in 2021. Next year we have to go back to fighting regularly for the podium. That's our goal."
Related video
Teams split on two-day Formula 1 weekend format
Miami GP plans on hold during pandemic
Why Norris doesn’t expect Mr Nice Guy praise for much longer
Earning praise from rivals has been a welcome sign that Lando Norris is becoming established among Formula 1's elite. But the McLaren driver is confident that his team's upward curve can put him in the mix to contend for titles in the future, when he's hoping the compliments will be replaced by being deemed an equal adversary
What Ferrari still needs to improve to return to F1 title contention
After a disastrous 2020 in which it slumped to sixth in the F1 constructors' standings, Ferrari has rebounded strongly and is on course to finish third - despite regulations that forced it to carryover much of its forgettable SF1000 machine. Yet while it can be pleased with its improvement, there are still steps it must make if 2022 is to yield a return to winning ways
How F1 teams and personnel react in pressurised situations
OPINION: The pressure is firmly on Red Bull and Mercedes as Formula 1 2021 embarks on its final double-header. How the respective teams deal with that will be a crucial factor in deciding the outcome of the drivers' and constructors' championships, as Motorsport.com's technical consultant and ex-McLaren F1 engineer Tim Wright explains.
How getting sacked from Benetton made Mercedes' Allison
He’s had a hand in world championship-winning Formula 1 cars for Benetton, Renault and Mercedes, and was also a cog in the Schumacher-Ferrari axis. Having recently ‘moved upstairs’ as Mercedes chief technical officer, James Allison tells Stuart Codling about his career path and why being axed by Benetton was one of the best things that ever happened to him.
The remarkable qualities that propelled Kubica’s F1 comeback
It’s easy to look at Robert Kubica’s second Formula 1 career and feel a sense of sadness that he didn’t reach the heights for which he seemed destined. But as Ben Anderson discovered, performance and results are almost meaningless in this context – something more fundamental and incredible happened…
The humbling changes Ricciardo made to deliver for McLaren
From being lapped by his own teammate in Monaco to winning at Monza, it’s been a tumultuous first season at McLaren for Daniel Ricciardo. But, as he tells STUART CODLING, there’s more to the story of his turnaround than having a lovely summer holiday during Formula 1's summer break...
The potential benefits of losing the F1 constructors' title
As the battle continues to rage over the F1 2021 drivers' championship, teams up and down the grid are turning their attentions to the prize money attributed to each position in the constructors' standings. But F1's sliding scale rules governing wind tunnel and CFD use will soften the blow for those who miss out on the top places
The invisible enemy that's made Hamilton's title charge tougher
After winning his past few Formula 1 titles as a canter, Lewis Hamilton currently trails Max Verstappen by eight points heading into the final double-header of 2021. Although Red Bull has been his biggest on-track challenge, Hamilton feels that he has just as much to grapple with away from the circuit