Ferrari to arrive in Miami with first of series of upgrades

Ferrari will embark on a major development programme in Miami. Team boss Frederic Vasseur confirmed those plans after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In doing so, the team hopes to continue the positive line from the race in Baku, although Vasseur does acknowledge that challenging Red Bull is out of the question for now.

In Baku, Ferrari was able to show a little bit of last season's form again. Charles Leclerc managed to capture pole position for both the sprint race and the Grand Prix and also finished on the podium in both. It signals that Ferrari has improved slightly from the start of the season. The team hopes to continue this trajectory over the next few races.

Speaking to Autosport, Vasseur confirmed that Ferrari will carry out upgrades in the coming period. The starting shot for that new trajectory will come at the next race, in Miami. More upgrades will be carried out step by step in the following weeks, focusing mainly on what the race weekend allows. So races that involve a sprint or that are not particularly suited to development - Vasseur specifically mentioned Monaco as an example of the latter category - will only see a minor upgrade, while in other races a larger package of improvements will be made.

'Red Bull remains better, we shouldn't bullshit about that'

Vasseur does, however, remain realistic about the team's chances. Although Ferrari was able to challenge Red Bull a little for the first time this season, Vasseur does not think that a comeback should therefore be celebrated immediately. "Overall, they were faster than us and we don’t have to bullshit ourselves," the team boss acknowledges. "I think so far what is obvious is that we are struggling with consistency. It's true this weekend, all over the lap, all over the corners and all over the race."