Sounds fine to me. Everyone buried Ferrari in testing last year. Some said that the Haas was nearly as fast the Ferrari. Ferrari was too talented a team to sit back and take the L.F1Krof wrote: ↑20 Feb 2019, 20:58Does not sound good.
https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... f-ferrari/
After three days of testing in Barcelona, the alarm at Mercedes is official. Until now, one had to rely on the body language of the participants in the interpretation of the lap times and the balance of power between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull or you had to read the answers between the lines. Meanwhile, team boss Toto Wolff admits officially that Ferrari has a faster car. Then he and his technical director James Allison packed the bags and started the journey home. In Brackley and Brixworth the lights will not go out in the next few days.
The official language in the team pushes Ferrari the clear role of favorites: "The picture is slowly building. Ferrari is faster on a lap, more consistent and incredibly reliable. That presents us with a great challenge. We have to fight back. That alone will keep the motivation in the team high. "The new Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto warns:" Mercedes is good at solving problems. If they're behind, they'll catch up quickly. "
Compared to Red Bull one believes oneself in the camp of the series world champion on eye level. Red Bull sees that differently. "We are ahead of Mercedes, and the times of Ferrari do not cause much concern," said Motorsport Director Helmut Marko.
Mercedes prepares Aero package
The gap to Ferrari is currently difficult to quantify. In any case, half a second, but possibly more. "It's hard to read the lap times because everyone seems to be driving a different program this year," the engineers explain. They also say that the distance to a lap is greater than the lap. Right now Ferrari wins everywhere. On the straight and in the curves.
On the track, the Ferrari already visually makes a better figure. "The Mercedes row in the curves more rum than the Ferrari," said Nico Hulkenberg. But even on the straight Ferrari drives away the silver arrows. Whether this is the lower air resistance or a more powerful engine, still needs to be analyzed. Ferrari should have significantly increased the engine over the winter. And the engineering department in Maranello persistently continued its philosophy of the previous year. Efficiency is the key.
At Mercedes, the hopes are now focused on a large aerodynamic package, which should come to the car in the second week of testing. The defending champion expects that even Ferrari ignites a second stage. And Helmut Marko promises: "The car you see here is not the car that will drive in Melbourne."
Merc will respond.
