Ferrari believe that the unique nature of the Monaco GP gives the team a chance to claim their first Grand Prix win of the season.
The Italian team last claimed victory in Formula 1 in Austria during the 2022 season, but senses a chance to win on the streets of Monte Carlo.
Ferrari’s sporting director, Laurent Mekies, has noted that the slow speed and importance of track position gives an opportunity to steal a win from Red Bull.
“Is it an opportunity? Yes, it is.” Mekies said to media.
“Here [Monaco] is an opportunity because of how specific the layout is, because of the very slow speed nature of the track.
“If you add that to the fact that, in qualifying, we have been performing a little bit better than in the race.
“And knowing how important qualifying is around here [Monaco], it gives us a little bit more scope to close the gap with the guys [Red Bull] in front.”
Ferrari has taken pole at Monaco in consecutive seasons in 2021 and 2022, but an elusive home win for Charles Leclerc has escaped the team.
In 2021, Leclerc crashed at the end of Q3 and the team elected not to change the gearbox, which duly failed on the formation lap.
And in 2022, a combination of shrewd strategy from Red Bull and misjudgment from Ferrari saw another golden chance to win slip away.
On the back of this, Mekies has exercised caution at the start of the weekend.
“Is it enough to talk about wins? It’s far too early in the weekend.” Mekies said to the media.
“And I think we just need to make sure that everybody stays concentrating, going from step to step, and extracting every single weekend.”
