At the wheel of his Ferrari, Charles Leclerc dominated the competition at the end of the last pre-season tests in Formula 1, Friday in Bahrain, but it will certainly take more to make the Scuderia the favorite of the 2024 vintage against the superpower of Red Bull and its champion Max Verstappen.
On the windswept desert island of the Gulf, the Monegasque achieved the best time of this final day of testing, confirming Ferrari's good form.
“Everything we expected from this car, we got it on the track, so that’s a good thing
,” Leclerc rejoiced at midday.
To discover
Formula 1: drivers ranking
Formula 1: the season calendar
No bad surprises therefore for the legendary Italian team which offered itself the best combined time of the three days thanks to the performance of its other driver, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz, the only one to have gone below the 30 minute mark on Thursday .
“I think I can say that we are off to a good start, if only by looking at our own performances
,” assured the French boss of the Scuderia, Frédéric Vasseur.
Enough to fight against Red Bull, reigning constructors' champion - and its triple world champion Verstappen?
If it is too early to draw conclusions on the state of the forces present,
“for the moment, Red Bull still has a good head start
,” Leclerc has already admitted.
Read alsoFormula 1: “19 drivers know they will not be world champion”, for Alonso, Verstappen will still be crowned
“Excellent base” for Mercedes
Behind Leclerc on Friday, George Russell (Mercedes) took the second best time of the day, followed by the Chinese Zhou Guanyu, third at the wheel of his modest Sauber.
Verstappen finished 4th of the day, ahead of Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), fifth.
However, the ranking must be weighed since among the fastest drivers of the day, Verstappen - by far the best time of the first day on Wednesday - opted for less soft tires and therefore less fast over a lap than those of his competitors. .
In addition, different variables (ground temperature, fuel level, tires used, etc.) must be taken into account, with the teams using these three days of testing to test and perfect the settings.
At Mercedes, arriving in Bahrain with a 2024 single-seater
“very different”
from its predecessor, if we were satisfied with these three days of testing,
“work still remains to be done”
, according to Lewis Hamilton.
“We are not yet where we want to be, we knew that would be the case before the tests, but we have an excellent base on which we can build
,” explained the seven-time world champion, 12th on Friday.
The day before, in cooler weather more favorable to speed, he finished third behind the other Red Bull driver Sergio Pérez.
As for Aston Martin, impressive during testing last year, the British team was more discreet this week, finishing no better than 6th place thanks to Canadian Lance Stroll on Wednesday.
Read alsoFormula 1: former Brazilian driver Wilson Fittipaldi is dead
In-depth changes
On the other hand, McLaren seems to be continuing its momentum: driven by a surge in performance since the summer of 2023, the team based in Woking (England) has almost systematically placed its two drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the Top 10 during testing.
This year, several teams have opted for an in-depth change to their single-seater in order to now be able to devote themselves to the development of the 2026 car - since new technical regulations will then come into force at this deadline.
If most of them debuted in Bahrain a single-seater more similar to the design of the latest Red Bulls, the red bull team stood out with a concept... which is far from it.
“I trust the team to be honest, to make the right decisions about the direction the car should take
,” Verstappen defended on Friday.
Red Bull and Verstappen will logically be favorites on the 24 tracks (a record) that the championship will visit this year, but it must be remembered that some hide their game during testing.
Each team will see more clearly during the first qualifying sessions next Friday (the Bahrain GP will be held on Saturday due to Ramadan), right here on the Sakhir track, scene of the first race of the season.