Fred Vasseur fires 'fake' shot at F1 rivals as attention turns to Ferrari

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur insists that talk of an F1 pecking order is "all fake" until the paddock reaches the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The Frenchman maintains it is "impossible to know" the competitive balance, with the Scuderia increasingly thrust into the conversation amongst the — already established — top four teams due to its strong reliability and race pace during pre-season testing.

The Italian team initially went under the radar at the Bahrain International Circuit, but by the end of last week's first test, the likes of McLaren driver Lando Norris and pundits were talking up the Prancing Horse as a potential dark horse, after Mercedes and Red Bull stole the early headlines.

However, Vasseur was quick to dismiss any such chat, remaining unwaveringly committed to the testing is not representative trope.

"It is impossible to know; that is true for us, it's true for the others," the 57-year-old told F1TV after the first day of the second test in Sakhir.

"First, we are focused on ourselves. The first question is about reliability, and so far, we've probably done 5,000 kilometres — it's a good point [to be at].

"It's about collecting data to know where we are with the car, and if the correlation between the wind tunnel and the track is good. We will see about performance later on.

"I think before Melbourne, it will be all fake, and we'll see Melbourne where we are compared to the others."

Vasseur: 'We are all keeping performance in our pockets...'

Reports of Ferrari getting through the private shakedown at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the first three-day test in Bahrain using just one power unit underlined the impressive reliability coming from the Maranello-based squad.

Lewis Hamilton eventually encountered an issue with the SF-26 with just 10 minutes to run in the opening official test, and he also experienced a setback during his afternoon of running at the start of the second and final test in Bahrain.

Despite that, Vasseur was unconcerned by the development, saying the problem that limited the British driver to just 44 laps would be fixed overnight and that the current total of 5,000 kilometres was "much more than they were expecting" at Ferrari.

He also adamantly claimed he does not care about performance until F1 reaches Albert Park, whilst adding: "We are pushing, but we are all keeping performance in our pockets...

"It's not the relative performance that is important today; it's the job that we are doing and the quality of the work that we are doing on track, to understand the new regulations, the new engine, and to do a better job tomorrow than today."