Ferrari were left pleasantly surprised after competitive Friday practice results at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz managed one top-five apiece across the two sessions in Sakhir, with the Spaniard less than three-tenths off the pace set by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the evening.
If repeated in qualifying, it would certainly mark a significant step forward for Ferrari from last year, though teams like Alpine and Aston Martin are likely to improve.
So understandably, Leclerc was pretty coy.
“Today has been a positive day, to be honest,” the Monegasque told the media. “We maybe didn’t expect to be as competitive even though it’s still very early days for now.
“FP1 was positive on my side, FP2 a bit less so. I’ve been struggling a little bit with the car here and there, and didn’t manage to finish the lap I wanted to.
“There is a lot of motivation in the team, I can see and we can feel the improvements that have been made since last year, which is good for now,” he added.
“Tomorrow will be the day when we know exactly where we are compared to the others. I think tomorrow is going to be very, very tight.
“But this is exciting, this is what we like as drivers, to try and make the last difference on track. Even though I still believe that Mercedes and Red Bull are still quite a lot in front, the midfield will be very, very tight.”
Sainz’s evening pace was particularly impressive as he continues to settle in at Ferrari, but he thinks the blustery conditions in Bahrain did play a role.
“FP1 felt fairly normal and suddenly there was a big change in wind and track conditions going into FP2,” he explained. “It made the cars and the balance a lot more on the edge.
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“It brought the field a bit closer together and it was actually quite tricky out there. You need to stay mentally disciplined because you don’t want to give too many comments regarding balance because you know you are also probably under-driving a bit.
“It’s tricky because when you switch teams and cars, as soon as the conditions change, you don’t know how the car is going to react, so you are always under-driving a bit,” Sainz noted.
“You don’t want to do stupid mistakes and you want to stay a bit below the limit of the car because you don’t know how the car is going to react.”
As for Ferrari’s competitiveness, the Spaniard does think the Scuderia can hold onto their upper midfield position.
“I think the long runs show a bit better where everyone is,” he suggested. “You can see clearly the Mercedes and the Red Bull are having an advantage on the rest of the field.
“But also surprised by how tight the short runs were in terms of performance.”