Fernando Alonso believes it will take two or three months of hard development for Ferrari to match Red Bull's aerodynamic prowess.
Alonso qualified roughly 0.5s behind Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull at the European Grand Prix and lost most of his time in the high-speed sector three where downforce is the key. He reckons it will be difficult for Ferrari to make up that difference any time soon.
"The development work on the car is progressing well, but we are a long way behind in terms of aerodynamics, which to put a time value on it means two or three months," he said. "It will not be easy to catch up but we will do all we can to succeed."
Technical director Pat Fry said Ferrari had not made up any ground to Red Bull since Canada and explained that it is the trade off between downforce and drag that is costing the team.
"The gap to the quickest is more or less what we could have expected going into this weekend, given that this track has slightly different characteristics to Montreal, where we were closer to the front," he said. "In the final sector in particular, we paid the price when compared to the Red Bulls and also to the McLarens. It's in that part of the track that aerodynamic efficiency of the car counts for the most and that is the area where we have to improve."
Felipe Massa said Ferrari would continue to develop the car even though its chance of challenging for either championship this year looks slim.
"We have become more competitive over the past three races and our aim is to keep going down this path," he said. "We must push on the development of the car, especially as next year's regulations will be more or less the same, therefore any work we do now could be helpful in the long term too."
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