Ferrari, some long faces: the words of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz

Ferrari’s two drivers spoke after the first day of Formula 1 testing

Max Verstappen immediately made his mark on the first day of Formula 1 testing in Bahrain. A week before the World Championship kicks off, the Red Bull driver excelled in times and laps run, immediately showing rivals a single-seater with no obvious weaknesses.

Quite a different story for the Ferraris. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished third and fourth, respectively, four tenths behind the Dutchman. If the times are not indicative at the moment, however, the Rossa showed some problems that need to be overcome quickly, such as porpoising and a somewhat too ballistic rear end. Especially Leclerc, who was stopped in the pits on several occasions in the afternoon, was rather dark in the face.

These were the words of the Monegasque in the note released by Ferrari: “We put the first intense test session behind us. We completed 64 laps trying a bit of everything. We worked on the set-up, to which we associated some tire evaluation tests and some aerodynamic tests with different fuel levels. We will analyze all the data collected to be ready for tomorrow.”

More satisfied was Sainz, who proceeded smoothly in the morning: “We also made progress with the set-up during the day and were able to get a good analysis of the tires that we have already tested in Abu Dhabi, so overall good progress so far and we look forward to continuing tomorrow. Reliability was good and I was able to drive without any problems.”