New Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur says that the Formula 1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix will be "a completely different story" to pre-season testing. Three days of running were held at the Sakhir circuit, which will host this weekend's opening race, with 2022 champions Red Bull looking ominous in their pace. Drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez topped two of the three days, with Ferrari appearing to be a comfortable second-best, a step ahead of Mercedes but also a little behind Red Bull. Despite this, Vasseur, who assumed control of the Scuderia in January, believes the race weekend will be totally different to testing.
Vasseur's confidence
Testing in Bahrain ran throughout the morning and afternoon and into the night, with Ferrari's quickest time being set in 55 degree Celsius temperature. However, both key sessions this weekend are set for 18:00 local time, at night when temperatures are cooler after sundown. Vasseur believes this could be a key difference, and was keen to point out that the test, was in fact, only a test. "What you have to keep in mind is that the race will be a completely different story with what we did this weekend," he explained to media including RacingNews365 during testing. "When Charles did the lap time this [test day three] morning, it was 55 degrees of track temp. "We have the race at six or seven, and also qualifying means that it is a completely different story. "We have to take the test as a test and not as the first FP1 of the race in Bahrain. "I think for this we did a good job to scan very large items on the car, focused on the long stints and did good improvements to the car."
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