Ferrari claims it can fight Mercedes every race once the major issue with the car is resolved

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur claims that the team could compete with Mercedes in every race once the consistency issue with the car is resolved. The Italian team has gotten off to a poor start to the season. It has been hard to figure out the car, as more often than not it performs well over a single lap but falls apart in the race.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur feels that the drop is because of a lack of consistency in the car and not tire degradation. Because of this, drivers struggle to develop a rhythm throughout the race and continue to struggle during a stint. As quoted by Motorsport.com, Vasseur claimed that once the consistency issue with the car is resolved, the team could fight with Mercedes regularly.

Although he did admit that fighting with Max Verstappen and Red Bull might be a step too far, he said:

"I think as soon as we will unlock the situation with consistency we can imagine to fight with them all over the race. With Red Bull it's another story, especially with [Max] Verstappen. He is still much faster than us in quali, much faster in the race. An upgrade when you increase the potential of the car, we are speaking about the top."

He added:

"You have to think that Mercedes, they are not sleeping. Between Miami and today they've also brought a big update in Monaco. It means that they are not sleeping. But what we can see on our side is that what we brought this week is paying off in terms of pure performance. And if you take the picture between Miami before the upgrade of Mercedes and today, I think we made a step forward probably in the performance. Mercedes also."

Ferrari upgrades helped make improvements in Barcelona

Talking about the upgrades that Ferrari brought to the car in Barcelona, Vasseur revealed that there was a feeling within the team that they proved to be a step forward in terms of the car's potential.

He said:

"We made a step forward in terms of potential. The reference in Miami. In quali pace at least we were able to put Carlos on the first row, a step forward probably. On the race you could consider that we made a step forward compared to Aston, but it's far from enough."

With the season that Ferrari is having right now, it's hard to see how or where the team has been able to find these improvements. On the track, the car was just not competitive enough, and that is just not acceptable for the Scuderia.