For Mercedes, the Ferraris will be a real threat in the race

Even though the Mercedes are still faster in qualifying conditions, the Ferraris should come out on top during long stints. The Scuderia seems to be more economical with the tires in Bahrain, favored by a higher track temperature than in China, even in night conditions.

In the evening, we learned that we are once again very fast on long stints, and that Ferrari is seriously threatening us on the long runs, Nico Rosberg revealed. They have a solid pace, it seems they are a genuine threat to us.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton doesn’t have a different opinion: “Ferrari’s pace is very annoying. During the race simulation, they were fast. They are going to be very close. From what I’ve seen, they look as good on long runs.”

The current world champion is, however, more confident about the wear of his Pirelli tires: « From what we have seen, tire management should not be as problematic as it was in Malaysia; we are certainly in a better position in Sepang at the same point of the weekend ».

As usual on Fridays, the Silver Arrows were able to run with less fuel than the Ferraris. Nonetheless, on this very abrasive circuit in Bahrain, and with high temperatures, the red threat should be far less phantom-like than in China…