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It wasn't the start in Bahrain that Ferrari or the Tifosi around the world were looking for after the first race of the season.
Fans of the Italian team were quietly hopeful that the new SF-23 could be the real deal and push the RB19 much closer than the 2022 challenger in the championship fight.
However, their hopes were dashed, as the team only managed 12 points in the Bahrain GP last week, courtesy of a P4 finish from Carlos Sainz post-Charles Leclerc's engine failure earlier in the race.
There were some positives for the team, though, as they looked competitive against the mighty Red Bull on the straights and high-speed corners. The SF-23 aced the top speed in Bahrain and looked like a less draggy car. That might turn out to be a crucial factor at the Saudi Arabian GP this week in Jeddah.
As per The Race, the combination of high-speed corners and three DRS zones might bring Ferrari closer to its rivals and emerge as a genuine contender for the race win. The Jeddah International Circuit could also help with the issue of tyre degradation.
"I think Ferrari are quite quick on the straight" - Max Verstappen
Red Bull's double world champion Max Verstappen sais that he's wary of the threat from Ferrari in Jeddah this week.
Speaking to the media, including PlanetF1, he said:
"Jeddah is going to be quite different again. Our car, it seems quite strong at high speed, but I think Ferrari are quite quick on the straight, which in Jeddah, of course, is very nice to have, let’s say it like that.
“But time will tell. I mean, it’s really hard to know, we’ve only really driven these cars here in Bahrain, so we just have to wait and see. We will of course, try and get there in the best shape possible, and then we’ll find out throughout practice exactly where we are.”
It will be interesting to see if the Italian team can challenge Red Bull in Jeddah.
If they don't get closer to the world champions, it will become tough for them to stop the Austrian team.
