Ferrari to run "various test items" in bid to find answers

The team had a raft of updated parts at last weekend's French Grand Prix but the new floor was removed after practice.

It persevered with a new front and rear wing, and new brake ducts, as it continues to try to close the gap to dominant championship leader Mercedes, and Ferrari has more development work planned for this weekend at the Red Bull Ring.

Team principal Mattia Binotto admitted after the Paul Ricard race: "I don't think we got all the answers from this weekend. The floor not working properly is a lack of answers. We will work on that one.

"We'll have some test items again in Austria to try to understand, and we will only understand fully when all the parts work as expected."

Ferrari has "various" parts to evaluate although the focus is mainly on why its updates in France did not work as expected.

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who finished fifth at Paul Ricard after only starting seventh, said Ferrari faces a "huge challenge" but is "throwing everything at it".

"The pressure is there and the ambition is there to keep improving," said Vettel. "If it was easy we'd do it overnight and have done it already.

"It's not easy, they [Mercedes] are very strong and currently showing the limits to all the other teams. It's up to us to come up with solutions to make our car faster and put pressure on them."

Ferrari's difficult start to the year means it remains winless, although Vettel did cross the line first in Canada but lost the victory because of his controversial five-second time penalty.

The team trails Mercedes by 140 points after its rival's eighth win and sixth one-two in eight races.

Vettel is now 76 points behind Hamilton in the drivers' championship.

"Maybe I'm not smart enough so I'm not overthinking these things," said Vettel when asked how he keeps his motivation high in such circumstances.

"I just look forward. I'm part of the team, that's what I want to be. I try to help where I can. We look forward to the next race but also [I try to help in] setting the right path for three, four, five races time or the future in general.

"I don't find the challenge now different to last year or the year before. Obviously we're in a better place than in 2015 and 2016.

"It's true that last year at this point we were more competitive. It doesn't make much sense to spend much time in where we were last race, or 10 races ago, in terms of results and gaps.

"What is important is to look back at these races and understand what we need to do better."