Charles Leclerc admits 🉐Ferrari has work to do ♉in order to “catch up” to its chief Formula 1 rival Mercedes when the 2020 season finally starts.

Despite being tipped to mount a stronger challe🌺nge to Mercedes this year in꧟ the championship race, Ferrari appeared to struggle during winter testing as the German manufacturer ended the two weeks of pre-season once again looking like the team to beat.

Ferrari conceded it had lost some of its previous power advantage in a bid to find gr🍎eater cornering performance this season, though its overall package ♓seemed to be lagging behind Mercedes as the teams arrived in Melbourne for the planned season-opener, before the coronavirus pandemic forced the current suspension to racing.

Scuderia team principal Mattia Binotto insisted that the team’s showing during pre-season was 💯a reflection of its “true” performance, and Leclerc echoed his boss’ verdic🍃t.

“I still believe w𒅌e have been struggling a bit during testing so we need to catch up,” Leclerc said during a video interview from his Monaco apartment.

“Whether we will be able to or not I d𒐪on’t know, but last year we had a good progression throughout the year. I think we need to keep working as🌳 we did last year and I’m pretty sure the results will come.

“It’s going to be a difficult season for everyone because as soon as it starts it’s not going to stop and we won’t have any breaks to develop the car more than the others,” he💝 added.

“So I think the work on track w🤪ill be extremely important and more than it has been any other years because we will spend a lot of time on track whenever the season will restart.

“It’s going to be very important to be focused and ready fro🦹m the first race onwards and us drivers need to be able to give the right feedback to the team and to try and help the🔯 team in the right direction straight away.”