Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Bahrain International Circuit, 2019

Mercedes believe Ferrari have a “tiny edge” over them

2019 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes Ferrari are only slightly ahead of them in Bahrain despite there being a substantial gap between the teams’ best times at the end of Friday practice.

Lewis Hamilton’s best time was over six-tenths of a second slower than the quickest of the Ferraris. However Wolff suggested the gap will narrow in tomorrow’s qualifying session.

“It looks like maybe Ferrari has a tiny edge on us at the moment,” he told Sky. “But then qualifying can be different. We’re going to squeeze everything we have like a lemon and then be there hopefully in qualifying.”

Ferrari’s poor performance at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix surprised many. Despite their promising pace in testing they finished almost a minute behind the winning Mercedes.

Wolff said Ferrari seemed to have more power now than they did in Australia. “You can see enormous straight-line power from the Ferrari on the straight,” he said. “It’s where they are making all the gains. Definitely a different Ferrari to what we saw in Melbourne.”

Ferrari took the unusual step of doing two qualifying simulation runs during the second practice sessions. Wolff admitted “we were surprised” by that. “It’s an unconventional tactic and it says a little bit about the race.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Mercedes believe Ferrari have a “tiny edge” over them”

  1. This means a guaranteed Mercedes pole tomorrow

    1. Well Mercedes have been the underdogs the last five years. Only through super human effort and Lewis Hamilton have they been able to beat the much stronger Ferrari all these years. It will truly be a miracle if they can continue winning this year.

  2. Well he knows how much their engines are turned up and we know ferrari hasn’t turned up their engine all the way either so its going to be an interesting battle tomorrow! Looking forward to it….

    1. I am sure that Mercedes have very powerful computers and I would not be surprised if they are able to tell exactly how many rpms the Ferrari is running at at any moment in time by just analysing the engine sounds. If you have powerful enough computers they would be able to tell you exactly how much power Merc needs from their engines to win and program the engine to run just enough hp extra at exactly the correct times.

  3. One of those rare times Toto makes a not unreasonable statement.

  4. When was the last time Mercedes said they were the favorite?

  5. He should ask for more budget. His team is clearly lacking. One cannot win so many championships on hard work and luck only. It is time for Mercedes to step in and give them what they need to finally be the team to beat for once.

  6. Toto “At the moment we feel we can just about beat Williams…”

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