Carlos Sainz feels "confident" that Ferrari have taken the right steps in moving closer to Red Bull in terms of straight-line speed. In 2022, Red Bull's RB18 became known for being fast on the straights, a feature that the Scuderia were unable to match at many circuits. Following pre-season testing in Bahrain ahead of the 2023 F1 season, Sainz voiced his belief that the team have taken steps in addressing this issue, though admitted that their performance relative to their rivals will not become clear until the campaign gets underway. "I don't know [if we are matching Red Bull], because I don't know the engine mode they're running and the exact rear wing compared to us," Sainz told media, including RacingNews365.com . "But we're confident we've done steps in the right direction in that sense. It's part of the evolution of our car to also try and be less draggy and try to get close to Red Bull on the staights. "So I hope that we can be closer. Are we going to be quicker or not, or the same, or able to battle them on the staights? We don't know."
Sainz satisfied with Ferrari's test
Overall, Sainz feels positive about what Ferrari have achieved during the three days of testing in Bahrain. "So far, so good," the Spaniard commented. "I think we've had a good test in terms of reliability [and] managing to do all the tests that we wanted to do coming into this week here. "Having a good test doesn't mean having a good car, but the most important [thing] is that we're having a good test, and this is giving us a good learning in all the aspects."
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