I translated this from
https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/te...ppure-1012771/ :
"In the Barcelona paddock, on the day Ferrari showed its claws, there are growing voices that Red Bull are the main challengers to Mercedes. Sebastian completed 186 laps without problems. The second best time of the Haas is the one that is feeding the…
We are at a paradox: Ferrari sets the fastest time on the third day of the Barcelona test before the lunch break and then Sebatian Vettel applies himself to the first race simulation in the early afternoon, begun almost at the same time as Verstappens Red Bull and proving to be faster than the RB14.
In the first direct comparison with the ‘drinks company’ the Ferrari was able to maintain a more consistent pace on the medium tyres while the Dutchman from a certain point onwards in the stint was losing around half a second to the Germans SF71H, Having lost time lapping Sergio Perez, Max was no longer able to find the earlier pace. Even at the end of the race simulation, Verstappen had raised his pace to a 1’22” while the four time champion finished with a 1’19”7.
And yet in the paddock they are making the Mercedes the clear favourites, closely followed by the Red Bull, with Ferrari even relegated to third. The team from Brackley has shown no interest in lap times just like the Red Bull and Ferrari has not tried a low fuel run, fitting the Hypersoft tyres (softest available from Pirelli) to make a rather long run in which Vettel improved repeatedly.
And the time of 1’17”182 was achieved without the German recording the three best intermediates, leaving the clear sensation that Ferrari also do not want to show their cards before Melbourne."
From what I've seen of Italian press reports they don't hold back if they think Ferrari are underperforming so this is pretty positive in my view. They cannot understand why anyone would think that we're even behind Red Bull and neither can I given what we know to date.
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