Binotto gives his rating for Ferrari’s pre-season

Mercedes stun paddock with no sidepod W13

'Hamilton wants to destroy Max Verstappen this season'

Verstappen labels Mercedes car as ‘quite ugly’

Max: Drive to Survive 'ruined after first season'

McLaren downplay potential porpoising advantage

New Ferrari trickier to drive in Bahrain heat

Magnussen back at Haas

Mattia Binotto has given Ferrari an “eight out of ten” for their pre-season, the Scuderia showing both pace and reliability.

Ferrari have been the talk of the two in pre-season testing with rivals bigging up the Scuderia’s chances of success.

So much so that Mercedes fear they could win the Bahrain Grand Prix by a “clear margin”, a prediction that Ferrari have all but scoffed at.

Binotto told Sky Italia: “I heard someone saying we’re the favourites. The others are the favourites, they’re the World Champions, who with the Drivers’, who with the Constructors’.

“They had such an advantage last year which proves how strong they are as a team too.”

The Italian pointed to Red Bull’s P1 time on the final day of testing, Max Verstappen laying down a 1:31.720 which was seven-tenths faster than Ferrari’s fastest time at the Sakhir circuit.

That was set with Red Bull’s updated aero package, the RB18 featuring revised sidepods and a new floor for day three.

Binotto says that shows Red Bull have the scope to react when need be.

“Red Bull the last day of testing brought some upgrades, proving they’re able to develop and adapt the car quickly,” he said. “And to be very fast again. So I expect a very strong competition and we’re aware of that.”

The team boss admits he is satisfied with Ferrari’s performance during the six days of testing, their on-track results backing up their wind tunnel data.

“Concerning the preparation, it’s a