Sakhir’s Ferrari double throws the F1-75 into the limelight. The Scuderia took home the maximum amount of world championship tally, boasting 44 points in the Constructors’ World Championship, with 17 points clear of Mercedes, while Red Bull remained at the starting line. In the drivers’ championship, Charles Leclerc has 11 points of advantage over Lewis Hamilton and 26 over the retired Max Verstappen.
The red could not have started better, capitalizing on the excellent work already done in the Sakhir tests which had already allowed the Scuderia to collect data on long runs, allowing the drivers during free practice to work almost exclusively in search of pole position, a springboard launch for a victory that was missing from the 2019 Singapore GP with Sebastian Vettel.
Ferrari F1-75 on the podium in Bahrain
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
But is the F1-75 the most competitive single-seater?
“To win you need perfection because the opponents are very strong and, perhaps, they have sinned in some aspects and that’s where the difference was made. The car can be improved, there are so many things to look at that we know can develop. But Sakhir’s result is the result of a job done well on many fronts: from the start, to the strategy, to get to the riders, to the set-up ”.
“The car was born well and I am personally happy because it is the result of a great team effort: every single one of it has done and is doing well. This heartens me and makes me proud because this is a very strong team in which I have always believed ”.
Mattia Binotto, therefore, exalts the work done in Sports Management by a very mature group, capable of achieving… perfection in the first hit of the season.
But the team principal of the Scuderia keeps his feet firmly planted on the ground and does not let himself be taken by the euphoria of the double …
“The hope was to be fast enough to play for the win, so much so that in the past few days I had said that I would not have signed for second place. I am equally aware that until you get to the first qualifying where everyone is pushing hard, you can’t know the true value, and after what we saw in the tests we knew we were okay, but we had to understand what the others were doing, knowing that ‘is always a possible margin of error ”.
Lewis Hamilton third, applauds the winner Charles Leclerc
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Red Bull was given as the favorite despite Leclerc’s pole position …
“Red Bull had brought a nice package on the final day of testing and we saw it could be worth half a second. Without that we would have had a little more margin over our direct rivals ”.
“The reality is that Red Bull with that package had reached our level or perhaps even better. I think that in qualifying, very tight and tight, Max could have taken pole and, probably, we would have seen another race ”.
“Even if we look at the first stint, we had new tires on Charles and he had used tires, but he was able to keep up with us as long as he had no problems with the braking system. I think Red Bull is the favorite, with Max being the world champion. We in Bahrain fought for it, and perhaps with a little luck we took home a brace which is a great thing, a great prize for the team ”.
Verstappen fighting with Leclerc after the pit stop
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Binotto remains buttoned up, trying to pour the pressure on the world champion team. Ferrari in the second world championship round which will take place over the weekend in Saudi Arabia will not lead to any developments in the F1-75…
“There will be no developments for Jeddah. For our part, the most important aspect in this start of the season will be to understand more and more the car to make the most of it, because in F1-75 there is still a lot of potential to unleash. So the developments we are working on will arrive and we will introduce them only when we are sure we are mature enough to take the right step forward ”.
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