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Ferrari did not let Red Bull's fast times get them off the hook
- GPblog.com
Frederic Vasseur was given a clear brief with his appointment as Ferrari team boss. The 54-year-old Frenchman has to make the Maranello-based stable world champion again and the first preparations for that are behind him with the test week in Bahrain. Ferrari was not the fastest team, but Vasseur is not worried.
Red Bull Racing, with Sergio Pérez, was more than seven-tenths ahead of both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz on the final day. All three drivers drove their fastest time on the C4s. A big gap, but Pérez drove his fastest lap under more favourable track conditions and possibly with an emptier fuel tank.
During a press event, which included Motorsport.com was present, Vasseur was asked if Red Bull's pace worries him. He stated that it is impossible to judge speed over one lap because you do not know whether the competition is running with 30, 40, or 50 kilos of fuel on board. The top man therefore prefers to avoid comparisons.
Ferrari will not be put off balance
Even when Red Bull pushed hard with Pérez in the RB19 in the final hours of Saturday's test day, Ferrari did not deviate from its plan. According to Vasseur, it would be foolish to upset its own programme just to move up a few spots on the timesheet (Leclerc finished fourth, Sainz fifth). The intention was to test everything that needed to be tested and not to drive fast laps.
"It was not the mindset of the test. If you start the test just to have a look on the level of performance of the team, you are dead, because then you will react and function based on the timesheet," Vasseur said.