Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes Ferrari was pulling wool over people’s eyes with their steady pace in winter testing.
Having topped the timesheets for much of pre-season last year, the Scuderia took a more methodical approach this year in Barcelona and rarely featured near the top of the timesheets.
Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has rubbished suggestions the Scuderia is simply hiding its pace, insisting the team is not on the same level as their rivals.
But speaking in Melbourne last week, the Austrian wasn’t convinced.
“Let’s wait and see if they are really slower because they were bluffing in the tests,” he told Osterreich newspaper.
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Also speaking in Australia, Sebastian Vettel appeared to hint Ferrari hadn’t shown their hand.
“I think testing is always inconclusive,” the German commented. “You never know where you are, and that’s the good thing about coming here and finally getting going and racing.
“I think testing, not a lot, but has it’s nice sides and aspects, but really racing is what it’s about, so as I said, it’s nice to come here and find out where you are.”
And the four-time champion also acknowledged the SF1000 was a step forward from last year’s SF90.
“It is, but I think that is probably true for everyone. That’s the idea of having a new car,” Vettel suggested.
“Obviously, learning from the experiences of the year before, so I think it’s probably true to say that everybody has got a better car this year, but it always depends where you are relative to the others.
“Our car is doing what we expected. It is a step forward. It feels better, but ultimately it matters where you are next to all of the others.”
Let’s see how it shapes up when the racing finally gets underway, whenever that may be!