"Red Bull the favourite", claims Ferrari despite team's 1-2 finish at 2022 F1 Bahrain GP

Red Bull is still the team to beat this season. This is the view of Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto.

Speaking to the media after Ferrari's win and reflecting on what happened during the weekend, Binotto said:

“Red Bull had brought a nice package on the last day of testing and we saw that it could be worth half a second. Without that we would have had a little more margin over our direct rivals."

He added:

“The reality is that Red Bull with that package had reached our level or perhaps even better. I think that in qualifying it was very tight, Max could have conquered pole and, probably, we would have seen another race.”

He also said:

“Even if we look at the first stint, we had new tires on Charles and he had used tires, but he was able to keep up with us as long as he had no problems with the braking system. I think Red Bull is the favorite, with Max being the world champion. We in Bahrain fought for it, and perhaps with a little luck we took home a brace which is a great thing, a great prize for the team ”

Ferrari did not bring many upgrades on the car that first took to the track in Barcelona, while its counterpart brought a significant upgrade to Bahrain's pre-season test as well.

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Ferrari was perfect while Red Bull stuggled a bit

According to Binotto, the Italian team was perfect in all aspects as it entered the battle against a strong competitor that more often than not covers all the bases.

"To win you need perfection because the opponents are very strong and, perhaps, they struggled in some aspects and that's where the difference was made. The car can be improved, there are so many things to look at that we know can develop. But Sakhir's result is the result of a job done well on many fronts: from the start, to the strategy, to get to the riders, to the set-up ”

After the first race in Bahrain, it does appear that Red Bull and Ferrari are the two leading teams in the paddock right now. Ferrari had the edge in Bahrain while Max Verstappen struggled from a plethora of issues throughout the race.

With the next stop in Saudi Arabia, it might just be Bahrain all over again as we might see Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen fight it out for the top positions with Mercedes lurking in the shadows.