Kimi Raikkonen is confident Ferrari will be stronger around the Hungaroring than was the case at Silverstone for F1's return to action next week in Budapest.
Sebastian Vettel ultimately salvaged an unlikely podium finish for the Scuderia at the last race courtesy of a perfectly-timed switch to intermediate tyres, but their SF15-T had not been a match for either Williams’ FW37 or the habitually dominant Mercedes W06 all weekend.
Ferrari have denied suggestions they have fallen further behind Mercedes in recent races despite upgrades to their car, but team boss Maurizio Arrivabene has conceded that their form is still susceptible to fluctuations over the rest of the season.
However, with the tight and twisty Hungaroring as far removed from high-speed Silverstone as most circuits on the calendar, Raikkonen is anticipating a more competitive showing.
Asked if the Budapest track would be better suited to Ferrari, Raikkonen replied: "I’m pretty sure it will.
"It was obviously not the ideal weekend [at Silverstone]. The others were a bit faster. I’m sure it will be a bit more easy there, but is it good enough? We will see.
"But we’re hoping for a bit of an easier weekend."
Since beating Mercedes to victory in Malaysia in March, the world champions have won the last seven races with Ferrari only managing to deny their rivals a perfect one-two finish twice.
Monaco was the last time Ferrari split Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg – after profiting from Mercedes’ late pitstop calamity – and the Hungaroring provides a similar test for a car, albeit without the omnipresent barriers.
Williams, by contrast, endured a dismal weekend in the principality as they failed to score a point. Raikkonen says Ferrari’s performance can be heavily dictated by the variables of a particular race weekend.
"We have seen in other circuits that it depends a lot on the layout of the circuit and conditions and what tyres we run over the weekend," said Raikkonen, the 2005 Hungarian GP victor and five-time runner-up.
"I expect it to be a slightly different story in the next race, and then we go to different circuits again. Not ideal for us this kind of layout, conditions, tyres but we have to improve and have to try and get better whatever circuit it is.
"Obviously they were quite good, even in the race, but we’ll just keep working and try to improve."
The early flyaway rounds of the season suggested Ferrari enjoyed an advantage over Mercedes across race stints when conditions were hot, with the SF15-T able to potentially complete one fewer pitstop than the W06.
The current weather in Budapest could therefore serve as additional optimism for Ferrari with the city currently basking in 30 degree-plus temperatures – conditions which are forecast to continue into next weekend.
However, one downside for Ferrari is that since 2012 Pirelli has not selected the supersoft tyre for the race weekend, instead preferring the combination of soft and medium in anticipation of such warm conditions.
Missed your F1 action? The 2015 season resumes with the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend and every track session is live on Sky Sports F1. Race-day coverage begins on Sunday July 26 at 11.30am with lights out at 1pm. Watch the Hungarian GP for £6.99 with NOW TV