Bottas: Ferrari are 'very strong' and are ahead of the other teams

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13:39, 21 Feb 2019

Valtteri Bottas has said that at the moment Ferrari seem to be ahead of all the other teams. The Finn believes that the Italian team are quick no matter what fuel load they have and whether they are doing a long or short stint. Although it is too early to say who really is ahead at this stage, things are heating up for a competitive season.

“They do seem very strong,” said Bottas to RaceFans. “No matter which kind of fuel load or engine modes they’re running, whatever you try to correct that for in any case that they are quick. Both short runs and long runs.

“So I think we feel at this point they’re going to be a bit ahead.”

“With the new rules, it’s going to be a big development race. We don’t think anyone is going with this type of car in this test to the first race, including us, we do have new parts coming for the first race.

“[But] we can’t really rely on that it’s going to be an upgrade. We do need to, even with this spec of car, to try and make it better and quicker.”

Pos.	Driver	Team	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli Kimi Antonelli	MercedesMER	131
2	George Russell George Russell	MercedesMER	88
3	Charles Leclerc Charles Leclerc	FerrariFER	75
4	Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton	FerrariFER	72
5	Lando Norris Lando Norris	McLarenMCL	58
6	Oscar Piastri Oscar Piastri	McLarenMCL	48
7	Max Verstappen Max Verstappen	Red Bull RacingRBR	43
8	Pierre Gasly Pierre Gasly	AlpineALP	20
9	Oliver Bearman Oliver Bearman	HaasHAA	18
10	Liam Lawson Liam Lawson	Racing BullsRCB	16
11	Franco Colapinto Franco Colapinto	AlpineALP	15
12	Isack Hadjar Isack Hadjar	Red Bull RacingRBR	14
13	Carlos Sainz Carlos Sainz	WilliamsWIL	6
14	Arvid Lindblad Arvid Lindblad	Racing BullsRCB	5
15	Gabriel Bortoleto Gabriel Bortoleto	AudiAUD	2
16	Esteban Ocon Esteban Ocon	HaasHAA	1
17	Alexander Albon Alexander Albon	WilliamsWIL	1
18	Nico Hulkenberg Nico Hulkenberg	AudiAUD	0
19	Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Bottas	CadillacCAD	0
20	Sergio Perez Sergio Perez	CadillacCAD	0
21	Lance Stroll Lance Stroll	Aston MartinAST	0
22	Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso	Aston MartinAST	0

Bottas: Ferrari are 'very strong' and are ahead of the other teams

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