Though many feel that the true pecking order will not be known until the afternoon of 14 March, there is a growing feeling that Ferrari will be hard pushed to challenge Mercedes or even Red Bull, with some predicting the Maranello outfit could even lose out to Racing Point.

Though Sebastian Vettel set the pace on Thursday, his best time, posted on the C5 tyres, was only marginally quicker than Lance Stroll who was on C3s, and as the pair simultaneously carried out their race simulations in the afternoon, it was noticeable that the RP20 was giving the SF1000 a run for its money.

This morning Sergio Perez clearly had the better of Carlos Sainz in the McLaren, and at a time the Silverstone-based outfit has yet to show its outright pace, Binotto admits he is aware of the threat posed.

"They are certainly very close," he told Sky Sports. "I think it's not surprising if you look at the shape of their car," he added with a smile. "Certainly yes, they are a threat.

"But I am convinced as well that Ferrari as a team is strong enough to develop the car from now onwards," he continued, "and to make sure that in the future we'll be strong enough not to be threatened."

Asked to identify the main areas of concern regarding the SF1000, Binotto admits to them being the engine, downforce and set-up.

"The drag is penalising our top speed," he told reporters in Barcelona today. "We are not pushing the engine to the maximum because we don’t want to compromise reliability. We are better on race pace than qualifying.

"We are not hiding anything," he insisted, "this is the real performance of our car."

Check out our Friday gallery from Barcelona, here.