Carlos Sainz has admitted that his Ferrari car felt harder to navigate through the corners in Bahrain than it had in Barcelona, laying blame on the higher temperatures in the Middle East. All 10 Formula 1 teams were back on track together for the first time in two weeks as engineers across the paddock continued their push to understand 2022's new cars in the Bahrain heat. The hot conditions made it much harder for drivers, with almost every driver on track taking their turn to understeer wide – most choosing Turn 10 to do so. Friday's forecast is set to be even hotter, with highs of 32 degrees Celsius predicted at the Bahrain International Circuit. When asked how the car felt while cornering, Sainz told Ferrari's Instagram live stream: "It feels, in Bahrain, let's say, a bit worse than in Barcelona, because it is a lot warmer and the tarmac has a lot less grip. It feels a lot trickier to drive in Bahrain than in Barcelona, but this is normal, we have this every year. "The car, in the corners, feels different to last year, but it also feels like we are doing progress and we know better what to do after every lap."
Ferrari still going strong as season opener nears
It was otherwise an impressive day once again for Ferrari which, despite Sainz's cornering complaints, put in the second and third fastest times of the day. "[It was] another good day of testing for us, continuing where we left off in Barcelona, with similar run plans but starting to check different set-up windows," he continued. "We missed out on a final run on C3 [Medium tyre], but in general we managed to test two or three things that were very important for us and we managed to put together a good day of running with no issues. "The mechanics are working hard in the heat, which is never easy, so I thank them for the effort. We still have a couple of long days ahead, but hopefully they will be very productive ones."
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