Ferrari’s Formula 1 drivers are bracing “for a tough Sunday” at the Bahrain Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz expecting to be fighting with Aston Martin rather than the front-row starting Red Bulls.
Charles Leclerc and Sainz qualified third and fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso whose practice-topping Aston Martin looked like a front row threat before it ended up fifth fastest in Q3.
The Aston Martin appeared to be ahead of the Ferraris on long-run pace during Friday evening and Sainz expects it to be a close match in the race.
Asked if he was surprised by the Aston Martin’s pace, Sainz replied: “We knew. There’s no secrets nowadays in F1 with GPS data and how everyone runs the car.
“We knew they were going to be quick, it’s true we beat them in quali but in the race, we expect to be level par or [Aston to have] lower degradation than us.
“It’s going to be a tough Sunday, even if I always go into races thinking we can win them.”
Sainz is of course no stranger to close race-long fights with Alonso having battled with his fellow Spaniard in various midfield machinery throughout 2015-2018 and 2021.
“I’ve been fighting him in the midfield for six or seven years back since 2015 so I know how to fight him well,” Sainz said of the potential battle with Alonso.
“It will be good fun having him up there.”
When asked if he was relieved to have the second fastest car, Sainz clarified “in quali, yes” with the race potentially being a different story.
He was at least pleased to recover from a “difficult build-up” to qualifying after a troubled Friday in Bahrain that featured a spin and a general lack of affinity with a car he felt he’d gelled well with in testing.
“I still need to look into yesterday because there was something weird going on for me,” Sainz explained.
“I probably didn’t have the cleanest of Fridays going into qualifying, which probably has put me half a step behind but given all the situations, to be catching up through quali and putting in a decent lap at the end to qualify P4 is a decent place to start – but not where I want to be with Ferrari.
“So we’ll do everything we can from now on to keep progressing and make steps in the right direction.
“If you asked me before the test if I’d have been happy we’re in P4 in quali I’d say no, but probably after the difficult Friday I had and how irrelevant it was for me going into today, I would say actually it’s not that bad.”
Sainz believes Leclerc could have “an opportunity to challenge the Red Bulls” after Leclerc and Ferrari opted to sacrifice his final qualifying run to save a set of tyres based on what the race simulations from practice two showed.
“We found a lot of performance in qualifying and we were in the fight which is probably something I didn’t expect so it’s a good surprise,” Leclerc said of his third place.
“It’s good it’s like that but we also need to be realistic. Those guys [Red Bull] and Aston Martin also seem to be really quick in the race which is why I think we made that choice in Q3 to be willing to lose one or two positions at the start but having new tyres to put all the chances on our side.
“I’m sure it’s the right choice but let’s see tomorrow.”
Leclerc did caveat Aston Martin’s “promising [long run] pace” by saying fuel loads are variable and unknown in FP2 but expects Aston Martin to be even closer in the race than the 0.336 seconds that separated Leclerc and Alonso in qualifying.
Poor tyre management was a key component of Ferrari’s fall from winning two of 2022’s first three races to ending the year a distant second in the championship – with just three of the 12 poles last year converted into race wins.
Leclerc thinks the team has taken a step forward with its tyre management over the winter but is unsure just how much difference it will make.
“The goal is always to try to improve, I think we improved our process of throughout the race trying to take more care of these tyres,” Leclerc said. “But if I look in FP2, we are still quite a bit slower than Red Bull in terms of pace and tyre degradation.
“We still need to see tomorrow and see where we are. If we focus on ourselves, yes I feel like we have done a step forward but I’m not sure it’s enough.”
Keyword: Ferrari’s key Bahrain GP rival is Aston Martin not Red Bull