Why the pace of a 'different Ferrari' might be deceptive
Sebastian Vettel's practice pace in Bahrain pointed to a return to the sort of form Ferrari offered in pre-season testing. Mercedes acknowledged its main rival was much improved, but small indicators suggest Ferrari's advantage might not be all it seems
Ahead of Friday practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the key question was whether Ferrari could extract the pace from its car that its drivers said was not there in Australia and, if so, where that would put it relative to Mercedes.
A glance at the timesheets suggests something closer to what pre-season testing indicated, with Ferrari six tenths of a second clear - actually twice the kind of gap there appeared to be in testing. While the usual Friday practice caveats apply, this is encouraging for a team that was hopeful it had solved some of the problems that it believed held it back in Melbourne.
Share Or Save This Story
Archive: When the French GP almost produced F1's greatest shock
Autosport 70: How Scheckter instigated Silverstone's most famous F1 incident
Autosport 70: The lost F1 team that launched Newey
Why Haas's shocking 2019 should have F1 worried
How Kubica found the answer to his own incredible F1 challenge
The real step that ended McLaren's F1 nightmare
2019's Albon, Norris and Russell are 2001's Montoya, Raikkonen and Alonso
How Toro Rosso gave Renault a major scare
Lauda's 1976 German GP helmet to be auctioned at F1 Miami GP
Ocon wants set-up changes after China F1 sprint as "performance left on the side"
MotoGP schedule: When is the next MotoGP race and where will it be held?
Honda MotoGP boss "confused" by "good improvements" not working
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
