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The Italian squad had hoped to be able to lead the challenge against Red Bull in F1’s season opener last weekend.
But despite pushing its rival hard in qualifying, worse tyre degradation in the race left it well adrift before Charles Leclerc suffered an engine problem while running third.
That left the door open for a hard-charging Fernando Alonso to swoop his Aston Martin past Carlos Sainz late on in the race and grab the final podium finish.
With Mercedes, which finished just behind Sainz, already admitting it must change direction with its car philosophy if it is to get back to the front of F1, there is already some debate about whether or not Ferrari needs to consider the same thing.
It has pursued an in-wash aero philosophy while the benefits of the downwash solution pioneered by Red Bull are clear to see – especially as Aston Martin’s copying of it has delivered such good results.
When asked if Ferrari still had belief its concept could beat Red Bull, team principal Fred Vasseur said: “I’m completely convinced about this.
“I never saw a car to match the pace of another one in quali and not to able to race. [So] then it’s a matter of set-up and some choices on the car. …