Sunday's victory at the British Grand Prix confirmed that while Ferrari was back up to speed, reliability remains the car's Achilles Heel.
Although Kimi Raikkonen picked up his second win in a row, after last week's victory in the French Grand Prix, teammate Felipe Massa was forced to start from the pits after his car stalled on the grid just before the start.
"We lost precious points on Sunday which kept us from gaining back ground in the constructors' championship even though we had the best package on the track," lamented Ferrari chief Jean Todt.
"What we need to do now is focus on performance and recover the best reliability possible. We need to concentrate on all aspects of the car's performance to continue this winning streak," he added.
This view was echoed by the team's race strategist, Luca Baldisseri, who said "we need to continue working with the same intensity to increase the levels of our performance and reliability. On Monday we will be back on the track to test some new solutions".
Looking back at Sunday's Grand Prix, Baldisseri observed that "it was a great race. The drivers were fantastic and the car ran like a top. The strategy we chose for Kimi was perfect and allowed us to win".
Despite starting last, Massa came up from behind to finish fifth and in the last laps tried several times to take fourth position from BMW's Robert Kubica.
Raikkonen moved into third place in the drivers' standings with 52 points, overtaking Massa who is now fourth with 51 points. McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and reigning champion Fernando Alonso are first and second with 70 and 58 points, respectively.
In the constructors's championship, McLaren-Mercedes is first with 128 points, compared to 103 points for second-placed Ferrari.
The next race will be the German Grand Prix, on July 22, where Ferrari last year picked up a one-two with Michael Schumacher and Massa, respectively, while Raikkonen made the podium with his former McLaren-Mercedes team.
FERRARI BACK IN COURT.
In related developments, Ferrari on Monday was back in a London High Court in its case against dismissed engineer Nigel Stepney, who is suspected of seeking to sabotage the team and passing on secret information.
Monday's hearing follows a search of Stepney's home which resulted in McLaren suspending one of its chief technicians, believed to be chief designer Mike Coughlan, who was allegedly in cahoots with the former Ferrari employee.
Stepney has denied giving Coughlan any classified Ferrari data and accused Ferrari of trying to discredit him for wanting to join another team.
Both Stepney and Coughlan are reported to have contacted Honda for possible job opportunities.
"Ferrari are terrified that what I have in my mind is valuable. I guess I know where the bodies have been buried for the last 10 years, there were a lot of controversies," Stepney said at the weekend.
Todt responded to Stepney's veiled threat to reveal Ferrari's 'secrets' by saying "it makes me smile. In this business, if something has to come out it does not wait ten years".
