Ferrari admits its second place in F1 2013 standings is in jeopardy

The Maranello outfit managed to extend its advantage over Mercedes to 10 points in the Japanese Grand Prix with four races remaining.

But team boss Stefano Domenicali doubts Ferrari can hold that position unless it unlocks more speed from its car.

"The fight from now on with Mercedes and Lotus is coming up," he said.

"It is very tight, and we need to make sure we can improve the car. And we can do it.

"We need to improve qualifying, which we know is quite difficult. As we see, everything is dictated by the position at the start and, after the first couple of laps, a lot depends on how you are able to manage the traffic.

"In Japan, when we were behind the train of [Daniel] Ricciardo with the hard tyres, it was difficult to pass, and we were lapping around three seconds slower than the quicker cars that were in front.

"If we want to keep fighting, it is important that we try to improve the car. There are some things that we can bring for the next couple of races, and we need to try to improve the qualifying.

"I know it is difficult because it is clear that Red Bull is very strong and Mercedes seems to have something more in qualifying pace, but this is the target."

Despite accepting his team needs to push on with its current car, Domenicali has ruled out taking any resources away from its 2014 project.

"No," he said. "On that we have already switched on 100 per cent of the activity at home.

"We still have something to bring on the track that we will try, but the technical office is totally dedicated to next year's project."

Form in last three races:

            Sing Q    Sing R   Kor Q    Kor R    Jap Q    Jap R
Ferrari     6th/7th   2nd/6th  5th/6th  6th/9th  5th/8th  4th/10th
Mercedes    2nd/5th   4th/5th  2nd/4th  5th/7th  3rd/6th  8th/DNF
Lotus       3rd/13th  3rd/DNF  3rd/9th  2nd/3rd  4th/9th  3rd/5th