The pattern of where Ferrari were losing lap time to Mercedes in China – mainly in the slow corners – was consistent with that seen everywhere so far this season.

Even in Bahrain, where Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole, 0.3s faster than Mercedes, the silver cars were still taking time from the red ones between turn-in and apex at many of the key turns. So far this season, Ferrari seem to be struggling to generate enough downforce from the front end of the car to get the required handling balance in slow corners.

So it may seem anomalous that the only significant update on the Ferrari in China was to the rear of the car, with this extensive opening up of the slots around the rear tyre. However, this simply reflects the ongoing development programme in the team’s wind tunnel. We can be certain that at Maranello the number one priority will be on correcting the apparent downforce shortfall around the front of the car, but there will still be standard developments coming through the pipeline initiated before the current problem was identified.

Some of these developments, even if they do not specifically address the main priority, will still give an improvement in the overall aerodynamic performance of the car – and therefore they will be made and fitted. The revised floor in Shanghai was one such development.