“Tend not to show all their cards” - Ferrari stunned by Mercedes pace in Bahrain
Ferrari drivers admit their surprise at Mercedes' pace in practice at F1 Bahrain Grand✅ Prix
Ferr𝐆ari have admitted their 🔜surprise at Mercedes’ speed on Thursday in Bahrain.
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets, ahead of George Russell, in the second practice session for the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.
It represented a major jolt of optimism in the new W15 which Mercedes hope will bring bett♏er results than the beleaguered cars of the past two years.
“Itꦉ just shows you can never look into testing,” Ferra💮ri driver Carlos Sainz told F1.com.
“Because people tend to not show all their cards, and it’s clear Mercedes are going to be in𝔉 the fight,.
“Red Bull in the long run were a lot🌠 quicker than in the short run, so I 🐼expect them to be also stronger tomorrow and Sunday.”
Ferrari, rather than Merc🧜edes, entered Bahrain tipped to compete closest to the Red Bulls (which they may still do, from qualifying and beyond).
But on Thursday in🐽 FP2, Sainz was restricted to P4 and Charles Leclerc P9.
Max Verstappen was sixth, and Sergio Perez 10th.
“Mercedes look strong, 🍎which is a bit of a surprise,” said Leclerc.
“But we don’t know which fuel🍃 [level] they wer♉e running, so I think we’ll have all our answers tomorrow.
“At least on our side… no bad surprises.
“No good surprises either, just exactly as we expected the car toꦇꦗ be. So we went through our programme.
“In FP2,𒉰 it was a bit more… I mean, I did a small mistake on my fast lap, and it’s a one-lap tyre, so then that was it.
“But apart from that, it’s all about 𒀰tomorrow now, 💮trying to focus to do a step forward.”
Leclerc won in Bahrain☂ two years ago and still expects Ferrari to fight at the front this weekend.
“I would be surprise💛d if that is not the case, for sure,” Leclerc said.
“I expect to be there with the others; the only question mark 🦹is obviously Red Bull, how far ahead they are in front.
“But with the others, I would be surprised if we are not ཧin the mix, yes.
“I feel quite good with the car and it𒈔’s a much better start compared to last year, where last year we arrived at the first race and it was very difficult to know what exactly was the right window where we could optim﷽ise our car.
“[Thursday] it’s not the case, we know we’re in the right window for perfo🍰rming at our best with this specific car, and now it’s all about tomorrow, to try and anticipate the conditions of tomorrow and make the best out of this weekend.”
Hamilton showered the W15 with praise, noting how the seat position had been adjusted to♑ answer one of his key criticisms of the 2023 car.
But how M๊ercedes’ qualifying pꦕace stands up to scrutiny on Friday will give an even greater indication of the W15’s development.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering ever༺ything from American sports, to football, to F1.
