FEBRUARY 21, 2019

Mercedes and Red Bull might be sandbagging

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas believes Ferrari is ahead of its rival teams so far. Pierre Gasly says "it's too early to talk about expectations" from his Red Bull team. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel says the new Ferrari SF90 is close to perfection.

Valtteri Bottas, Barcelona 2019
© RV Press

By Dan Knutson

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas believes Ferrari is ahead of its rival teams so far. Pierre Gasly says "it's too early to talk about expectations" from his Red Bull team. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel says the new Ferrari SF90 is close to perfection.

But Ferrari's new recruit Charles Leclerc remains cautious about the Scuderia's potential in the upcoming season.

When he met with reporters in the paddock of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Leclerc was asked how much do Mercedes and Red Bull have to be worried about Ferrari's speed?

"The performance has no sense for now, because it remains testing and they are probably not pushing, and we are not either," he said. "We don't know how much the others are sandbagging, so we'll see at the first race. I think the main importance for these tests are to do the program of the day, and that is what we are doing, so we are happy."

Still, Leclerc is pleased with the SF90.

"It's feeling very good," he said. "For now, I wouldn't comment too much because it remains testing, but the feeling is good in the car. Many laps, and the reliability is very good."

Looking ahead to the season opening Australian Grand Prix, what does Leclerc want to achieve in his first race with Ferrari? Fighting for a podium or the win?

"I'm not really focusing on the result at the moment," he said. "As I've said in the past, so long as I'm focusing on myself and trying to do the best job possible in the car and out of the car, the results will come at some point. So I will focus fully on myself. I don't want to put in my head I want to win the first race, and that is not what is in my head at the moment. I just want to grow as much as possible to the first race and be as comfortable in the team and in the car, and then the results will come."

One thing is for sure and that is neither Red Bull nor Mercedes will be sandbagging in Melbourne. And Ferrari's program will not be testing but winning. So that's when everybody will finally see the relative performances of the top three teams.