Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has hailed the squad’s “significant improvement” throughout 2019 and says the team must utilise the final events of the campaign as preparation for 2020.
Ferrari endured a troublesome opening half of the season as opportunities slipped through its grasp, all but ending its title hopes prior to the summer break.
It has since taken six successive pole positions and three victories, albeit it has failed to convert its most recent three qualifying triumphs into race wins.
“We have started the last six races from pole position but have only gone on to win three of them and we certainly want to do better than that,” said Binotto.
“We are encouraged by the fact that we now have a package that allows us to fight for wins on most tracks.
“It’s a significant improvement on how we started the year and credit must go to all the people in Maranello and at the track, who have worked so hard to fight back from where we started.
“We need to use the last three races of this season to further develop as a group and to operate in the sharpest possible manner in order to be better prepared for next year.
“It is a very tight field at the front and every detail matters if we want to win more often.
“Austin will hopefully give us a good opportunity to do so.
“It is a very challenging track with many different combinations of corner. Of course everyone will be looking to see what happens with the tyres after the surprising longevity of Pirelli’s Hard compound last week in Mexico.
“We are aware that every track can produce its own particular surprises and our aim is to be ready to react to whatever situation might arise.”
Sebastian Vettel added: “It’s a tricky circuit to get the tyres into the right performance window, so Friday running is important to understand the tyres and get prepared for the race.
“Last year’s event was difficult because none of us got much useful running due to the poor weather on Friday. The forecast for this year is dry but quite cool.
“It should be a good circuit for us but, as we saw last year, we can take nothing for granted and the competition is also strong.”
