Vasseur sees Mercedes and Red Bull "struggling more" to catch up to the front of the grid

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur believes that Mercedes and Red Bull "are struggling more" than McLaren on consistency to start the 2025 season.

McLaren were the team to beat throughout winter testing in Bahrain throughout February, and since then, they have backed that up with three out of four wins to start the season, with Lando Norris winning one and teammate Oscar Piastri taking the other two.

Behind them, Ferrari have been unable to push the papaya-coloured team as much as they would have wanted, with a plethora of updates coming at the Bahrain Grand Prix to try and improve their pace.

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Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took P4 and P5, respectively, for the Scuderia, in the Middle East in what was a small improvement, with Vasseur seeing Mercedes and Red Bull struggling behind them, especially with their tyres.

Vasseur sees McLaren being far and away the favourites

Speaking in the paddock at Bahrain to several media sources, including GPblog, Vassur started by saying: "I don’t want to speak about rear stability. I think what is true is that balance is not an easy one with the tyres, because we have a different behaviour of the tyres with the conditions. It means the balance is also changing a lot."

After their double disqualification at th Chinese Grand Prix, plus their struggles to start the season, Ferrari sit 94 points behind McLaren at the top of the construcotrs' standings, while Leclerc sits fifth in the drivers' standings, with Hamilton down in P7.

"Yes, but when I say yes, it’s probably Mercedes and Red Bull that are struggling more than McLaren on consistency," Vasseur continued.

"And for sure, for the drivers, you have a bit of frustration when, at the end of FP2, the balance is good, and at the beginning of FP3, it’s not. But that’s where we have to improve together. It’s not the driver, it’s not the team, it’s teamwork," concluded the Frenchman.