Scuderia Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto says the Italian outfit is in the process of working on new concepts for its 2019 car to help the team bridge the gap with Mercedes.

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Singled out as the clear favourite at the start of the year, Ferrari has failed to live up to expectations, performing occasionally on a par with its German rival but unable to consistently challenge the latter’s supremacy on race day.

After last week’s in-season test in Barcelona, Binotto underlined the crucial role played by this year’s Pirelli tyres, a recurring theme up and down the grid this season.

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“Last week’s testing in Barcelona and analyses carried out in Maranello confirmed just how much this year’s tyres, which are very different to those we had in 2018, require different mechanical and aerodynamic settings to work properly,” said the Swiss.

“We are already working in Maranello on evaluating new concepts, as well as bringing some initial further updates here.

“This Grand Prix is celebrating its 90th anniversary, as indeed is the Scuderia, which makes this weekend even more special.

“It’s a very different sort of race, where the track characteristics that can shake up the order could be jumbled up still further this weekend.

“As usual, qualifying will be very important because of the fact it’s almost impossible to overtake.

“Of course, Monaco is Charles’ home race and we know how much it means to him. It means a lot to us too.”

During his Monaco Grand Prix preview, Binotto also expressed the sadness felt by the Scuderia following the passing Niki Lauda, of one of its greatest past representatives

“The run up to this Monaco Grand Prix has been perturbed by our sadness at the news of Niki’s death,” said Binotto.

“His straightforward no nonsense approach will be missed in Formula 1 and it will seem strange for all of us not seeing him in the paddock.

“Niki was a standard bearer for Ferrari and for Formula 1 and he pushed through changes in motor racing that made it even more professional, being ahead of his time in terms of being a stickler for detail which is now very much a key element of our sport.”

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While he’s racing against Charles Leclerc in F1 for the first time this year, Alex Albon is no stranger to the Ferrari driver’s talent, having battled with the Monegasque for several years in motorsport’s junior ranks.

Albon and Leclerc were contenders in the European F3 Championship in 2015, before they fought each other in GP3 a year later when the British-Thai racer finished runner up to his rival in the series.

In 2017, they followed each other up the ladder into F2 where Leclerc secured another title while Albon finished tenth.

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Their paths separated thereafter as F1 beckoned for Leclerc but thanks to his lucky break this year with Toro Rosso, Albon sits once again on the same grid as his former junior rival, and is better placed than many to judge the Scuderia charger.

“I’ve know him since karting,” Albon told Motorsport-Total.

The Toro Rosso rookie singled out Leclerc’s outstanding ability to “feel the grip” as his greatest strength.

“Charles feels the grip very fast, even when it rains,” said Albon who underlined how “immediately” on the pace Leclerc usually is on race weekends and how much speed he carries through the corners.

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“He has no weakness in slow, medium and fast corners,” added the 23-year-old who isn’t surprised by Leclerc’s ascendency against his Ferrari team mate Sebastian Vettel.

“If you’re faster than him, it’ll be by two or three hundredths at the most, you will not get more,” contends Albon.

However, for all the hype and promise, Albon insists his former karting, GP3 and F2 rival hasn’t changed since their formative years in the sport.

“If you hit him up in the paddock, he’s still the same guy: modest, very ambitious and very talented.”

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Daniil Kvyat’s Friday practice ended rather embarrassingly with a hefty impact into the wall late in FP2. But the young Russian had been looking undeniably fast, and he was able to carry that pace into Saturday’s qualifying session – and happily without the mishap.

“It gives you great satisfaction to put in a good lap,” said the Toro Rosso driver. “Especially at a track like this as it’s a circuit for brave drivers!

“I brushed the wall on one of my laps, but you need to have big balls around this track to get the best time.”

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Kvyat’s bravery was enough to put him through to the final top ten pole shoot-out round, where he picked up a sixth place starting position for tomorrow’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

That’s the 25-year-old’s best grid place since the 2016 European Grand Prix – the first Formula 1 event to be staged on the Baku City Circuit. It’s also the first time since his return to F1 that he’s made it through to Q3, having narrowly missed out by one place in Shanghai.

“It was a good Qualifying, I had a great lap in Q3,” he said. “Conditions were not ideal for anyone because we missed out on track time yesterday, but I generally don’t need a lot of laps to find good pace.”

Having scored a single point in the season opener in Melbourne, Kvyat is keenly aware that his starting position in Baku gives him his best chance of netting some serious points since his return to F1 at the start of 2019 after a season on the sidelines.

“Tomorrow’s a long race and we’ll try and put everything together,” he pointed out. “I think we have a chance for a strong result. The race can be very unpredictable, so I’ll keep a cool head and do the best job I can.”

Kvyat’s team mate, rookie driver Alex Albon, missed out on joining him in Q3 and will start three rows back in 12th place, following a ten-place grid penalty for Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

“It was a bit of a frustrating end to qualifying, we had the pace for Q3 the whole weekend, just not when it mattered,” rued Albon.

“I was struggling with the tyre temperatures and trying to get them in the right range, especially after the big temperature drop near the end of the session.

“Maybe I didn’t get the warm up lap right, because I struggled for confidence when the track was cold and the car started to slide around a bit.

“Tomorrow’s a new day and anything can happen here, we’ve seen how chaotic it can be so it’s all to play for.”

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Carlos Sainz believes McLaren was only denied a shot at the podium in the German Grand Prix by its rivals’ risky strategies unfolding in their favour.

Sainz was the only driver among the top ten to have only stopped three times in Sunday’s chaotic race, with McLaren opting for a cautious approach in terms of strategy, contrary to Toro Rosso and Racing Point which were the first to switch Daniil Kvyat and Lance Stroll to the dry soft compound tyre under a third Safety Car regime that took place some 20 laps from the end.

That decision gave both drivers an edge compared to Sainz who resorted to a used set of softs for his third and final stint.

“Every decision that we do probably was the right one,” said Sainz.

“In the end we lost out on a podium because of two cars with nothing to lose.

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“They pitted for slicks and benefited from that. When you don’t see the Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari pitting you say, we are P5 we are crazy if we pit now and we miss this.

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“We were very close to pitting and that would’ve given us a podium place but in the end it was wise that we didn’t but the others benefited from the risky decision.”

Earlier in the race, Sainz had spun off the track at Hockenheim’s treacherous Turn 16 but avoided a contact with barriers.

But the mishap, repeated by several other drivers over the course of the afternoon, did set back the Spaniard who was forced to battle his back up the field.

“Honestly today, I was not really comfortable with the conditions,” Sainz added.

“We were running a smaller rear ring than the rest of our competitors and we struggled to warm up our tyres. When you got into a rhythm it was fine but just the restarts we struggled.

“That spin cost me, but in the end we were the only car not to pit for slicks halfway through the race as it started to rain again, so it was a good call that gave us back the position.”

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Max Verstappen dismissed Red Bull exit rumors fueled by his father on Twitter recently, insisting that when it comes to his future, he’s the one in the driver’s seat.

Last week, Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko expressed his fears that Verstappen could walk away from the Milton Keynes-based outfit if it can’t consistently fight at the front of the field.

And Jos Verstappen retweeted the article which quoted Marko, leading credence to the possibility his son could call it a day with Red Bull and Honda.

However, the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing charger dismissed the third-party talk.

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“There were a bit more things said in the article… I’m the driver, not my dad,” said Verstappen

“I always said I’m enjoying myself. Of course, we all know that we need to do better but I believe in the project that we are in with Honda.

“We are just working hard now to step up the performance and we will see in the upcoming races where we will be.

“If you get a bit more power, balance in the car, then it looks a bit different.”

Ahead of last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, in which he finished fifth, Verstappen was asked how long he would remain committed to Red Bull in its current winless state.

“I’m not even thinking about that,” said the Dutchman.

“At the end of the day it’s not easy, as you see with Ferrari as well, to close the gap.

“Mercedes is at the moment just doing a very good job but I feel very good in the team and it feels like the place to be at the moment. I’m not even thinking about those things.

“I feel good within the team as well I feel very relaxed and I think that also helps.

“You spend a lot of time with each other already over the years so you get to know each other better. Communication is going very well and I’m having a good time.

“We are working hard to improve, we know that we have to improve.

“I think that’s not a secret but we also knew that from the beginning of the year, so it is not like a big shock what is happening now.”

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Robert Kubica knew that in Monaco he would be under scrutiny from those who doubted his ability to merely compete on the challenging street circuit, but the Pole believes he acquitted himself well in the Principality.

Kubica’s 2011 rally crash has left him with a physically impaired right hand, and while the Williams driver has found an efficient way to deal with his limitations on most tracks, Monaco’s tight and twisty layout was seen has major difficulty.

However, as far as the 34-year-old is concerned, he passed his Monegasque test with flying colors.

“I knew I would be fine here,” Kubica said.

“I think overall a lot of people thought I would not even be able to turn the steering wheel.

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“In this not easy situation I think I did pretty well, and I can be happy. Of course the final result could have been better, but that’s how it is with racing.

“People said that Turn 1 would be an issue for me, and I think in all the races I did pretty well in Turn 1, or on the opening lap, when there is a kind of racing instinct.”

Kubica actually enjoyed a strong launch off the grid, overtaking both team mate George Russell and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi on the opening lap.

A clash with the latter after an optimistic move at Rascasse sent Kubica back to the rear from where it was very difficult for him to recover.

“It’s racing, there’s not a lot you can do in this situation,” said the Pole. “That’s how it is, sometimes.

“I gained two positions at the start, and in the opening laps there is a lot of managing tyres, managing your pace.”

“After the safety car I could keep them behind, but I knew I had to stop.

“There was some possibility for rain, so that’s why I stayed out. The rain showed up, but just slightly, and in this case our strategy didn’t pay off.”

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Joining a chorus of warnings over France’s state of emergency and increase in state powers imposed following the November attacks in Paris, a group of United Nations human rights experts has now said that the measures “impose excessive and disproportionate restrictions on fundamental freedoms.”

Among the concerns mentioned in the United Nations Special Rapporteurs’ joint statement released Tuesday is that the state of emergency—extended until February 26—and new electronic surveillance law have no safeguards of guaranteeing rule of law as there was no prior judicial review.

That state of emergency, as The Intercept reported, “gives prefects, the French government’s local representatives, the ability to place people under house arrest, based merely on the suspicion of the intelligence service that they pose a threat to national security. They can also order police raids targeting any place where they think information about terrorism may be found, without a warrant.” And while it “was initially supposed to mitigate the threat posed by Islamic terrorism, [it] has been used to target environmental and political activists who have nothing to do with radical Islam, let alone terrorism.”

“Ensuring adequate protection against abuse in the use of exceptional measures and surveillance measures in the context of the fight against terrorism is an international obligation of the French State,” the joint statement reads.

“We call on the authorities to revise the provisions and possible reforms adopted to [in the fight against terrorism] to ensure they comply with international human rights law,” the experts, David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression; Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Ben Emmerson, Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; and Joseph Cannataci, Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, stated.

“While exceptional measures may be required under exceptional circumstances, this does not relieve the authorities from demonstrating that these are applied solely for the purposes for which they were prescribed, and are directly related to the specific objective that inspired them,” they state.

The statement also calls out the recent house arrests of environmental activists, saying the actions “do not seem to adjust to the fundamental principles of necessity and proportionality.”