Pino Allievi: “A futuristic Red Bull rejects Ferrari's illusions”

Taken from Pino Allievi's Caffé – FormulaPassion.it YouTube channel

Bitter coffee, New Year's Day

For long winter months we followed, step by step, what was happening in Maranello, spying on who was coming in and out of the Sports Management, trying to catch a glimpse of a new car from the hermetic shutters that occasionally rose, trying to guess from the looks of those who said nothing and didn't let it show whether there were reasons to be optimistic. And in the end yes, between oriented silences and complicit glances we convinced ourselves that we could believe in a reversal of the trend in hierarchies, that is, that Ferrari had a weapon that could fight on equal terms with Red Bull.

Mistake. Red Bull he changed the car and made a another leap forward pushing into the future And rejecting illusions of everyone, especially the Cavallino fans. The result of this premise is that the order of arrival of Bahrain was the same as last year, with the mockery of Verstappen who in the end had fun like a child playing with the softer Pirellis, alternating fast laps with deliberately slow ones as if he were racing for his own pleasure, not to get ahead of others. And this artistic license conditions any commentary on the Ferrari's gap, almost halved compared to a year ago. We mean to refer to Sainz's Ferrari, a masterful driver in Sakhir, who certainly enjoyed the two overtakings on Leclerc more than the podium. Carlos ended up almost in Perez's wake, but the Mexican, hotly contested and always in the balance, once he climbed from fifth to second position thought it best not to make any mistakes, to reassure his detractors in Red Bull and comfort his supporters.

And Leclerc?

Immediately in trouble, forced to retreat, a series of messy braking, with the car going where she wanted. All this with the Pirelli Soft, at the beginning. Then, having mounted the Hard tyres, he almost started flying for a few laps, so much so that it led one to think that he had some problem with a tire, but no one really clarified what it was.

And the others?

Mercedes is fine with a machine of the opposite concept to that of recent years. Russell was excellent as long as the hard tires held up, Hamilton was struggling with problems even in the driving seat, a race to forget. On Sunday we race in Saudi Arabia, a very fast track, not too safe: will it still be the same film? Let's hope not, but…