P1racenews AI automatic summary:
The Ferrari race sim offering clues to its Red Bull-beating potential
The Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc impressing on the overall timing sheets during this week’s Bahrain test hasn’t gained much attention. Sainz’s fastest time was 1m29.921s, seven tenths quicker than Red Bull’s benchmark set by Sergio Perez. However, it’s widely agreed that these times don’t necessarily reflect true performance due to factors like tire compounds. Despite Ferrari’s strong showing, Red Bull is still seen as the team to beat heading into the F1 season opener. Sainz’s race simulation, where he outpaced Red Bull, indicated promising improvements in Ferrari’s performance and addressed past tire degradation issues. Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur highlighted the importance of improved consistency and reduced degradation as the key takeaways from the test.
