Ferrari thought they had a “clear performance advantage” before opening race

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has admitted that they thought they had a “clear performance advantage” going into the first race of the season in Melbourne after pre-season testing.

Ferrari dominated the first week of pre-season testing with Mercedes bring in an update for the second week, later tweaking it before Australia.
 
The Scuderia couldn’t translate their advantage though as Valtteri Bottas raced to pole position by seven-tenths, going on to win the race.
 
"We were certainly quick the first week [of testing]," Binotto told Autosport. 
 
"We thought we had a clear performance advantage on all the competitors to say the truth, that more or less in the first week we were half a second faster over other teams.
 
"If we look at the overall best lap time of the second week, when everybody was trying lower fuel configurations and was starting pushing on the engine mode, we did exactly the same laptime of [Lewis] Hamilton.
 
"[So] going to Australia we had a good level of confidence that we could battle for the victory. But once there it was a cold shower for the entire team."
 
Despite being unable to perform as they had in pre-season Binotto is still positive of Ferrari’s season after their second half resurgence.
 
"The team had the right spirit. I believe that in the second half of the season we addressed positively the problems we had,” he added.
 
"This shows that the team is capable of developing and moving in the right direction."