“This would be a mistake”: Ferrari team principal sticking to their plan despite Red Bull dominance in pre-season testing 

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur stated that the Italian team should stick to the guns despite their rivals Red Bull having a slight advantage at the end of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Red Bull looked bulletproof throughout the three days of tests at the Sakhir International Circuit and looked to have made another step after their dominant 2022 season. Although Ferrari looked a bit closer to the Austrian team, Charles Leclerc claimed that they needed to make some jumps to challenge them next week.

Speaking to The Athletic, Vasseur said:

“We are comparing runs with runs, and if you start to change because Red Bull is faster or slower, and say, "OK, I need to change my program,’ you lose the path of the three days. This would be a mistake.”

The Frenchman also spoke about the changes in Ferrari's strategy team and how they will approach the issues this season, adding:

“We did something a bit more straightforward, and I hope this will work in a good way. he most important thing when something is not working is to understand why it didn’t work, if it was a choice, or the flow of information that the guy (making the choice) received. Very often, it’s the flow of information.”

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“It has been three intense days of work for everyone on the team" - Ferrari team boss

While analyzing the three days of pre-season testing, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur stated that it had been intense for the team ahead of the first race of the season.

Speaking to F1.com, he said:

“It has been three intense days of work for everyone on the team. We have scanned a number of items on the car and ticked many of the boxes of our program, without worrying about lap times or what the others have been doing, simply focusing on ourselves,”

He added:

“The main target was getting as much mileage under our belt as possible and we did that, although it’s also true that you always want to do more and have more time."

He also said:

"But it’s the same for everyone. Whenever we managed to put everything together the performance seemed to be there, but we are clearly still in the process of getting to know the car so it’s too early to say anything. The mood in the team is perfect and we are in a good shape to start this long season.”

It would be interesting to see if Ferrari can challenge Red Bull all the way into the 2023 season.