The pecking order for 2021 is still an unknown but, with Red Bull Racing performing strongly at the pre-season test in Bahrain, the early part of the year seems primed to be a Mercedes vs. Red Bull duel. While Ferrari appear to have improved, particularly on the engine front after a weak 2020, Helmut Marko doesn't believe the Scuderia are quite ready to join in the battle at the top. "The Ferrari engine has gotten better, but I don't see them driving between Mercedes and Red Bull," he said in an interview with Motorsport-Magazin. Marko, instead, predicted that McLaren, now armed with Mercedes power and an MCL35M that fared strongly in testing, will be the ones to worry the top runners: "That's rather something we see McLaren doing." Both Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris performed strongly during the test, with Marko wary of the threat from the British team. "[It looks good]. Of course, we do not know how many kilos of fuel they have onboard, that is crucial. But they are reliable and despite the sandstorm and the temperatures, they always drove near the front."
Ferrari's situation improving
The Ferrari powered teams are unanimous in that the Ferrari power unit represents a clear step forward, and won't be a hindrance this season after a dreadful 2020. Speaking to RacingNews365, Ferrari Sporting Director Laurent Mekies explained that there hasn't been any cause for alarm with their new SF21. "Last year, we did find an outstanding issue or a few outstanding issues with the car at this very stage," Mekies said. "But I don't think that we were convinced of it. If you had asked us at Barcelona testing, because it takes some time to process your data across and correlate so, if you ask the question in Barcelona, I'm not sure I could give you a black and white answer. "But are we in the same sort of difficult situation in a way of having to fix something that seems broken? No, we are trying to reconstruct the recovery."
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