Please not another season of Max being uncontested ☹️
I think since Japan last year that we can conclude that Ferrari is for sure stepped up their one lap form, however let’s see tomorrow if Ferrari have sorted their tyre deg. I think they made a big step forward to it, but I think Red Bull (and particularly Max) still has the edge in race trim. His long runs yesterday were almost robotic (again)
I thought reporters or pundits were talking about how Ferrari wanted to focus more on reliability for their setup and to focus on the race pace.
Hopefully they’ll be close this year than last
Red Bull and, notably, Max remain formidable, yet they no longer appear invincible.
The closely contested competition among Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin, and McLaren adds an intriguing dynamic to the season.
We’ll see after tomorrow. RBR never really cared about qualifying and Leclerc got on pole several times last season without it doing him a whole lot of good in the race. Yes, the Ferrari looks to have better deg than last year, but Red Bull is in another stratosphere in that department anyway (at least from testing data).
Race Sims suggest Red Bull having a race pace advantage of 3-5 tenths, which is very substantial (especially with better deg). I am assuming Max will drive off into the sunset tomorrow (and the rest of the season).
Agree about the other teams though, and the fight for the third (and sometimes second, knowing Checo) podium spot should be tense and unpredictable.
I wonder if the delta is low because Bahrain is not Red Bull’s best suited track, or if it is indeed their best suited track and the other teams will perform better in comparison to Red Bull at other tracks this year.
Only time can tell
Are we sure there are no more sandbags to be tossed? If so, then the Ferraris are a match to the Bulls this year.
Let’s wait to see the race pace
Can we ever be sure?
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