Red Bull make bold claim about F1 rivals after first Bahrain test

Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache has claimed that Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren are all ahead of the Milton Keynes-based squad in the F1 pecking order heading into the new season.

Speaking at the first official pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit, the Frenchman again insisted his team is "not the benchmark" after rivals had placed Red Bull on a pedestal following a surprisingly impressive first day of three in Sakhir.

Whilst the paddock will stay in the Gulf state to run a second three-day test next week, Wache is adamant that early analysis puts the RB22 behind the SF-26, W17 and MCL40.

Mercedes set the quickest times across the first test, all on the final day, but McLaren and Ferrari topped days one and two, respectively.

When asked by media, including RacingNews365, where Red Bull stands at this stage of the year, the 51-year-old replied: "It’s difficult to say.

"We are not the benchmark, for sure. We clearly see the top three teams — Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren — are in front of us, it looks like, from what our analysis is — and we are behind.

"That’s where we think we are, but it's difficult to say about the others because of the run plan of everybody, the level of fuel they run, the level of power they run.

"It's difficult to say, but this is currently our analysis — [but] that it could be wrong, to be honest. We don't spend too much time on that; we try to focus on how to improve our runs."

Where is the Red Bull lacking?

Max Verstappen, in particular, caught the attention of the paddock on the first day of running in Bahrain with his impressive energy management technique of dropping down to first gear — where drivers would naturally want to be in second gear — to harvest, and thus have more power to deploy.

However, this approach is expected to burn out gearboxes and power units more quickly than what might be sustainable over the course of a season, and Wache nonetheless does not feel that low-speed traction is an area in which the RB22 excels.

"I'm never happy with my own work," he responded when questioned to that effect. "Clearly, we have some improvements to do, some challenges around this type of regulation, with the level of grip as this is quite low and the level of downforce that is very low.

"The challenge to manage the traction after low-speed [corners] is very high, and that could be one of the keys."

Expanding on Red Bull's rivals, whilst assessing where the RB22 is lacking, he added: "It's difficult to say. I think clearly in low-speed traction, they look very strong.

"Some straight-line speeds are also interesting from Ferrari and Mercedes, especially on low fuel.

"The problem is that the assessment of the performance is difficult until we are on exactly the same fuel level during qualifying in Melbourne.

"We clearly see some weaknesses in our car, and we relate it to these weaknesses and the feedback that we have from Max and Isack [Hadjar] on the car, based on where we lose our time to the others, and it's corresponding.

"That is why I'm saying that. Clearly, traction at low speed and medium-speed corners – that was not our strength already last year – they are still stronger than us."