F1 Bahrain GP: Ferrari is “ready to show Red Bull they’re not unbeatable”

Despite Red Bull occupying the front row in qualifying, the Ferrari Formula One team is optimistic they can compete with them at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Jock Clear, Charles Leclerc‘s driving instructor, noted that Ferrari had made substantial advancements in tyre management and engine power, allowing the team to compete with Red Bull across the race distance.

Clear admits that Red Bull has a tenth-and-a-half advantage in qualifying, but he is hopeful about Ferrari’s chances in the race. He feels the team has the ability to fight Sergio Perez in the opening stint and put pressure on Max Verstappen for the remainder of the race. Ferrari, according to Clear, is not trying to consolidate third place and defend against Aston Martin and Mercedes, but rather to take the fight to Red Bull.

“We’re going to be having a go at Perez, and if we can take on Perez in the first stint, then I think we can hound Max for the rest of the race. I think we can make a race of it,” said Clear. “We’re not going into today thinking Red Bull are uncatchable. I think as you’ve seen, we don’t believe it is at the moment. We’d like to show that this afternoon.”

Last year, Ferrari suffered from tyre degradation, an issue the team worked hard to remedy throughout the winter and in testing. The situation was accentuated, according to Clear, by the fact that Leclerc and Sainz had to work hard to stay up with the improving Red Bull. Ferrari, on the other hand, is optimistic that they have made significant progress in tyre management, which will be vital in challenging Red Bull.

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“We worked a lot last year on our tyre management. Certainly at the end of the year, I think we’d made some very good progress. We’ve worked again on that over the winter, and in the three days of testing last week. So hopefully we can manifest that today with actually challenging Red Bull over the race distance,” said Clear.

Ferrari has also enhanced its straight-line speed, which will be crucial in a race against Red Bull. Clear added that the team had made substantial work on the engine side and that the car had been straightened up in terms of drag. He also stated that Ferrari did not want to enter races believing that the vehicle ahead of them had an edge.

“Early days, but we’re comfortable with the development we had on our engine side, I think we’ve done a good job. That probably contributes some of it. We cleaned up the car from a drag point of view, because that looked like last year something that they [Red Bull] were on top of. So we’ve tried to eat into that as well,” said Clear.

Clear’s remarks indicate Ferrari is not prepared to cede ground to Red Bull in the opening round of the championship. The Maranello-based team has made tremendous progress in resolving its deficiencies and is confident in its ability to compete with the best teams. It remains to be seen whether Ferrari can transfer their confidence into a competitive performance on the track.

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