Bahrain GP: Ferrari continue to play down expectations despite impressive test

Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto has once again said that the Scuderia are not favourites at the beginning of the new Formula 1 season, despite their impressive testing programme in both Barcelona and Bahrain.

The F1-75 has looked very good indeed, straight out of the box.

On both short runs and long runs, it appears to have had good pace, whilst the balance of the car has left drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc looking pretty serene at the wheel, even if porpoising has struck at higher speeds.

Indeed, the car has also had good reliability over the six days of testing that we have seen and many believe that the Scuderia, or Red Bull, go into the first race of the season this weekend in Bahrain as favourites.

We’ve seen, though, a lot of teams play down their chances ahead of the first race in a bid to lower expectations and, indeed, Binotto has been singing from that particular hymn sheet a fair bit, with him once again saying that the test was positive but Ferrari are not favourites:

“I think focusing on ourselves, it has been six days positive,” Binotto said to F1 TV.

“We are running consistently, learning a lot from the car, getting a lot of data, cross-correlating back at Maranello, wind tunnel and simulator. That was the first objective and I think we achieved it.

“Then in terms of performance it’s very difficult to judge. I still believe Red Bull and Mercedes are the main [favourites]. I think they are the ones that won last year, both World Championships, driver or constructor. They have proved to be very strong teams in the past – they had a second of advantage at the end of last year.

“I think there is no reason why they are not the favourites today. So for me, they are the favourites.

“I think as