F1 | McLaren speaks as a third force: “Red Bull and Ferrari are very ahead”

At the end of the pre-season tests, many are wondering what the real performance grid of the new single-seaters could be, the one that defines the values ​​on the field of the first part of the Formula 1 season.

The only certainty seems to be the same as in recent years: Red Bull ahead of everyone. The rest, however, is uncertain. The McLaren drivers gave a plausible picture of what we saw during the three days of testing in Sakhir.

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have indicated the RB20 as the reference car, the one to beat. But there's more. According to both, McLaren would indeed be in the top positions, but also behind Ferrari.

In Woking they think they have done a good job on the construction and preparation of the MCL38, but in Milton Keynes and Maranello they seem to have done a better job. This would put McLaren in the fight for third place in the Constructors' Championship, probably together with Mercedes.

“Do I think we have taken a step forward? Absolutely yes. Do I think we have improved many things? Yes. But… But at the end of the day you never know where we stand compared to others. I think we are in a good position,” said Lando Norris at the end of the tests in Bahrain.

“At the end of last season we had a decent car. I think we've made some steps in the right direction, but I think we're still a long way behind Red Bull, a long way behind Red Bull and a long way behind Ferrari. So there's there's still a lot of work to do, but also a lot of things we've learned in the last few days to put into practice before next week.”

This was echoed by Oscar Piastri, who was also impressed by the RB20 but also by some interesting glimpses of the race pace shown in the last 2 days of testing by the SF-24 in the hands first of Sainz, then of Leclerc.

“Red Bull is one step ahead of everyone. Ferrari also seems strong. Not to the same extent, but at the moment they seem to be in a decent second place. So, we have a bit of work to do. But it's not a bad thing starting point. I think we are somewhere towards the top, in the mix. But if we want to start fighting for podiums regularly and try to win races, we have to find something more.”

“I think we clearly have a lot of work to do to catch up to Red Bull. Ferrari also seem a step ahead of us. But I think we have a decent platform. Certainly better than 12 months ago, but it's still there some work to do. I wouldn't say the position we find ourselves in is completely unexpected.”

“We were optimistic, but then again we never really know what other people have. We still don't really know what other people have. So, we'll see. But I think we have a good foundation to work from. And if we can do the kind of progress we made last year, we hope to be able to fight for the podium sometime during the year”, concluded the Australian driver.