McLaren have Ferrari warning for Mercedes and Red Bull ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has warned the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull that Ferrari will be a force to be reckoned with over the course of the upcoming Formula One season. The historic Italian team raised plenty of eyebrows with their impressive showings at last week’s pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of this weekend’s season-opening race at the same venue.

Ferrari were near the top of the timing sheets at the end of almost every session and will be looking to follow up by making the perfect start to the new campaign when the five red lights go out on Sunday. They have been widely tipped as this year’s dark horses and it seems as though Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz could soon be in the mix to land Ferrari’s first Drivers’ Championship title since 2007 if the racing gods are kind to them over the coming months.

McLaren boss Brown has since insisted that Ferrari could be the early favourites to pip Mercedes and Red Bull to glory in Bahrain and beyond if they can hold on to their positive momentum when the new season begins to take shape. “Ferrari looked very strong [in testing],” he told the Evening Standard. “Ferrari has all the resources of Red Bull and Mercedes, they just lost their way the last couple of years.”

Ferrari’s all-new F1-75 challenger has been a major talking point since it was officially unveiled by the Maranello-based outfit back in February. Their concept of a hollowed-out sidepod design shifts the airflow towards the highest parts of the car in order to improve rear downforce and has plenty of potential based on their showings in pre-season testing.

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Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto is not prepared to get carried away just yet, though, with the 52-year-old still adamant that Mercedes and Red Bull will remain at the front of the order when the new season gets underway. “We are not the favourites,” he told reporters after the final session of last week’s test in Bahrain.

“I think the favourites are the teams that were the best last year because they are strong teams, they have proved they can be very fast, they’ve got a fantastic team. On track I think they are showing that they are very, very fast.

“So I think if they are [favourites], we are outsiders. It’s true that we have a good start of testing and a good start of the season, but becoming favourites, I think we need first to have good races.”

It remains to be seen whether Ferrari will be able to compete with the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull in Bahrain when the new season begins on Sunday. They are the most successful F1 team in history but have not won any end-of-season honours since claiming their last Constructors’ Championship title in 2008.

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