Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto acknowledged Red Bull's remarkable superiority at Spa but insists his team's performance gap to the Bulls was also "amplified" by Spa's circuit.
Max Verstappen took a commanding win in Belgium on Sunday, the Dutchman making minced meat of all his rivals despite launching his race in the second half of the field due to an engine related grid penalty.
Both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc cast a worried look at their deficit to Red Bull after their race which they finished respectively P3 and P6.
And Binotto himself was puzzled by the extraordinary efficiency of Red Bull's contender around Spa's low-downforce layout.
"What is more concerning for me is to see that they have been capable of running a lower-downforce but still having a great type of speed in the middle sector where you need downforce,” said the Scuderia chief.
"So, I think they’ve got both of it, which is back to the efficiency. They’ve got low drag, and great downforce on the car."
However, Binotto believed that Spa's lengthy circuit that unfolds over seven kilometres and Ferrari's tyre struggles were important factors that magnified the gap between Red Bull and the Italian outfit.
©Ferrari
"It has been a true difference between us and the Red Bulls this weekend," the Swiss conceded.
"Simply today the Red Bull is a faster car compared to what we’ve got, in terms of overall efficiency, because Spa is where you need efficiency, from the aerodynamics and the power unit.
"But more than that we had a lot of tyre degradation we need to look into. They have been stronger as well in terms of tyre degradation. So, I don’t think it has been an outlier.
"Certainly, the gap we have seen today is not the gap we’ll have in the next races. Spa is always amplifying the gaps because it’s a long track. And whenever you have a slight advantage on efficiency it’s normally amplified and very obviously seen on such a circuit.
"We hope to be closer in the next races. They’ve got a slightly faster car, but tyre degradation has been the element most affecting the performance.
"We need to understand and try to address as soon as possible because it’s really important as well for the next races."
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