From ‘very confident’ to facing ‘real test’ – Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes assess prospects for Spanish Grand Prix.

“We were [on] Being on the back foot, I am incredibly hopeful that I can get back to the level I was just a few races ago and I believe I can get back to that level.”

But Perez admitted the three-grid penalty imposed for Montreal’s infringement would change his approach “a lot,” adding: “It’s not ideal to have a penalty in a place like this. It’s best to try to minimize it.”

Canada was a particularly difficult weekend for Ferrari. Neither car finished the race. Carlos Sainz is confident the squad can learn from their mistakes and perform better at Barcelona.

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“I think in a calendar of 24 races there will always be races where you perform at a very high level and races where you perform poorly,” the Spaniard explained. “But I think we learned from that.

“Now we come to a much more common route, one of the first Europeans after Imola, and this is a place we all know well. We know the settings. We know how to do an out lap, we know how to do a push lap, so hopefully we can do it right and be a lot more competitive.”

Charles Leclerc suffered from engine problems at Montreal, which eventually forced him to retire from the run. The Monegasque says the team has found a “solution” and, like Sainz, is looking forward to an even better weekend.

“What we are focusing on is [on] Since understanding the engine issue, the biggest issue over the last few days has been the lack of performance on Saturday. Here again we didn’t manage things the way we should have and perhaps the car was performing better.” Leclerc reflected in Canada.