Sebastian Vettel admits everyone will be racing into the unknown at Paul Ricard this weekend, but the German is nevertheless confident Ferrari's recent form can be upheld.
Like his colleagues, the world championship leader will venture out on to Paul Ricard's current configuration for the very first time, but the prospect doesn't trouble Vettel.
"The car has worked everywhere so far, and we are very happy about it," said Vettel.
"It’s more difficult to know what to expect here than on any other track, as we’ve never been properly here with the other teams at the same time and on the same circuit layout.
Vettel has raked in three wins so far in 2019 to lead Lewis Hamilton in the title fight by just a single point.
However, the recently resurfaced Circuit Paul Ricard has compelled Pirelli to bring back once again its thinner tread tyres last seen at Barcelona, where Ferrari and Vettel struggled.
The four-time world champion insists however that the Scuderia's relative under-performance in Spain was not tyre-related.
"We found what made us so uncompetitive in Spain," he said.
"The problem was not the new tyre, but how we prepared our car for them. We were wrong. That makes me confident that when we use these stiffer tyres again, we'll know what to do.
"We’ll see how it will be, I don’t see any reason why we should struggle and I think we should be doing fine here, but we don’t know exactly what to expect, the asphalt is new and the track is also new to a certain extent," added Vettel.
"The fact that we’ve been competitive so far in most of the recent races makes us quite confident for the next ones.
"We’ll focus on the next races always going step by step. I’m looking forward to racing here!"
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