Ferrari F1 team seeks "direction" from Paul Ricard tech steps

After falling behind chief rival Mercedes at the start of the season, Ferrari said it was evaluating different solutions in its bid to get back on level terms in the championship fight.

However, it admitted that any new development concepts would take several weeks to determine and put into practice.

Ferrari almost claimed its first win of the season in the previous race in Canada, where Sebastian Vettel won on the road but was hit with a five-second time penalty.

The Montreal circuit played to the strengths of the SF90, which has better straightline performance at the expense of downforce in the corners.

Heading to this weekend's French GP at Paul Ricard, where it expects to struggle more compared to the race in Canada, Ferrari is banking on unidentified upgrades making a big difference to its development plan rather than transforming its on-track performance immediately.

"Following Canada we definitely want to get back on track and go racing with our rivals once again," said Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto.

"In France we will have a few small evolutions, elements that represent for us a useful step in defining the direction we will take in developing the car.

"What we will be bringing won't be the solution to our problems, but the technical feedback we get from these evolutions will be important for the next steps we take.

"Paul Ricard has been a tricky circuit for us last year and we know that this kind of track isn't particularly favourable for our package, but nothing is impossible so we will be ready to do our best."

Ferrari is 123 points behind Mercedes in the constructors' championship after the first seven races.

Its lead driver in the drivers' standings, Sebastian Vettel, is 62 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton.