Ferrari not yet looking at Red Bull or Mercedes: 'We'll see in two weeks'

Ferrari still have their homework to do if they are to move ahead of the midfield before the official kick-off of the racing season. Looking back at the two test days Laurent Mekies, sporting director at the Scuderia, still expects a lot of work for his team.

"Another very busy day of testing in Bahrain, with almost 700 kilometres covered during the eight hours of track time," Mekies reflected in a press release in the aftermath of Saturday's test in Bahrain.

"The weather was much better than yesterday, although the wind was still a feature, especially in the first part of the day"

Tyre management

Mekies admitted that managing the Pirelli tyres, in particular, was a focus for the Italian racing team. "We worked a lot on management of the Pirelli tyres over long runs and we got plenty of data which we will now analyse carefully. In the final hour, we also began to look at how the SF21 went in terms of outright performance and here too, we gathered a lot of useful information.

"These three days are vitally important and we are taking a methodical approach, because the work we do now will be the key to how we get on during the season. Therefore the most important thing is to complete the planned programme and that’s what we have done so far."

Focusing on their own performance gives no room to look at the competition now.

"As for the competition, we can start thinking about that in two weeks time, in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.”