Can Ferrari change its fortunes in 2019?

More often than not, a sigh of delight is aired, or a smile of admiration exuded.

Sadly, the same cannot be said when it comes to Ferrari's Formula 1 team this season.

The twinges of optimism at the end of pre-season testing, when the suggestion was Ferrari had the fastest car and that, finally, it would be able to offer Mercedes a worthy title battle have given way to sighs of frustration and forlorn frowns.

While the numbers from pre-season testing – that spanned eight days at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya – are notoriously difficult to read as the teams run different engine modes and fuel levels, and such data is not made public, there are still calculations that can be made to offer a relatively accurate baseline.

The assumption was that the SF90 had the edge on its Mercedes counterpart, the W10. Six races into the season and those assumptions have been torn asunder.

Sebastian Vettel is already 55 points adrift of Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' standings, while Ferrari is staring at a 122-point chasm to Mercedes. But for an intra-team battle within the German marque, as Valtteri Bottas has taken the fight to Hamilton, the destiny of this year's world titles seem assured, even with 15 rounds of the season remaining. It certainly was not meant to be this way.

When Maurizio Arrivabene departed as team principal in early January, and Mattia Binotto was promoted from his role as technical director, there was a sense Ferrari had at least taken a positive step towards emerging from the shadow cast by Mercedes.

Unlike Arrivabene, whose background was marketing and sales, Binotto was a man steeped in the racing and technical side to Ferrari, joining the Scuderia in 1995.

He was part of the team that enjoyed unbridled success in the early 'noughties' when Michael Schumacher won five successive titles from 2000-2004, and the team itself six constructors' championships from 1999-2004, and again in 2007 and 2008 – the latter being the last time it triumphed outright.

After rising through the ranks, Binotto was an obvious choice, and when Vettel declared his car to be "very close to perfection" after the first day of testing, those previously mentioned smiles of admiration were present.

But just as one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one strong test outing make a Formula 1 season, of which Binotto, Vettel et al were all acutely aware.

You could argue Binotto's first mistake was to immediately install Vettel as the de facto number one driver ahead of new team-mate Charles Leclerc. Nothing wrong with that, on the face of it – a four-time champion as the team's 'go-to guy' ahead of a 21-year-old with just a season of F1 racing behind him, despite his academy status and success in the junior formulae. But Leclerc had already previously proven he was no slouch, and from the first race in Australia Ferrari was forced to impose team orders, forcing Leclerc to remain behind Vettel after catching him late in the race.

There may have been a valid reason on that occasion, as there was no need to take a risk with only fourth place at stake, but the stance adopted immediately raised eyebrows and drew questions. The problem in setting a hierarchy is that in favouring one driver over another, situations can arise where that driver is prioritised over the team as a whole, despite the team believing any decision taken is in its best interests. The 'second' driver, meanwhile, can become frustrated with those decisions, as witnessed in China when Leclerc felt he was being held up by Vettel at one stage but could not pass.

Secondly, and more importantly, the design of Ferrari's front wing – with all wings made 20cm wider this year under new regulations in an attempt to allow cars to follow more closely, and in turn improve overtaking – is diametrically opposed to that of Mercedes.

Ferrari opted for an inboard-loaded concept, which would have a positive impact on outwash to improve aero but is countered by the amount of downforce that can be produced, while Mercedes preferred outboard, offering it the possibility of greater downforce, providing it could find the right balance between the front and rear wings.

It is arguably why Ferrari was quicker in testing as its solution was able to hit the ground running, while Mercedes needed time to find that balance that would allow it to keep applying downforce.

When it did, and quickly, the result was a record-equalling five one-two finishes to start the season, followed by a one-three in Monaco as the perfect beginning came to an end.

Binotto, though, has made clear his team will not be changing its front-wing philosophy. "Simply it is a different concept to Mercedes, but it doesn't mean that we have achieved the maximum of its concept today," he said.

The solution, according to Binotto, is to find a car that "is well balanced", with "performance in medium, high speed and low speed – and what we are lacking is the optimum in all conditions".

Mercedes already appears to have such a car, so with Ferrari six races behind in terms of this particular development race, its chances of catching up and passing its main rival are slim.

Then you throw in incidents such as Bahrain, where Leclerc was on course to win until a cylinder failure late in the race, and his crash in qualifying in Baku where he appeared quickest again.

Add mistakes from the pit wall, such as that in Monaco when the home hero was left sitting in the garage in qualifying while others progressively improved their times, leaving him with a wretched grid slot at a circuit where it is almost impossible to overtake, and it is easy to see why Ferrari is languishing.

Vettel claims his car is not "as bad as it looks" but that overall it is "lacking downforce" adding that "it's very difficult for us to get the car in the window where it is happy".

Forget the car, given the results so far, no-one, it seems, is happy at Ferrari these days, making for challenging times for Binotto in his first season in charge.

Photography courtesy of Motorsport Images.