Two days of long runs: Red Bull seem to be on top form

The kick-off of the winter test days in Bahrain have put an end to the endless speculation about the potential of the new loadout of Formula 1 cars, and with two of the three days behind us a cautious balance sheet can be drawn up; one in which Red Bull, for now, seem to be the team to beat.

"Red Bull is already in top form," Auto Motor und Sport headlines after the conclusion of the second day of testing at the Sakhir International Circuit. The German medium states that, although a definitive comparison with Mercedes is not yet possible, Red Bull Racing have arrived in good form.

With four test sessions concluded Mercedes have 164 laps on the board, while Red Bull already have 256. This makes the comparison between the two top teams not very informative. The difference in tyre compound is also big: Bottas drove his fastest lap on the soft Pirelli C5, while Perez set his best time on the harder C2.

Other teams were better on Saturday and offer the solution here; AlphaTauri and Ferrari drove the race simulation almost simultaneously with Sergio Perez. From this comparison, it is clear that Red Bull has had a tremendously strong start to the season, according to Auto Motor und Sport.

Whereas Pierre Gasly proved faster than expected in the AT02, it keeps raining problems for Ferrari. The car and new Ferrari power unit still seem to lack pace, which is why Leclerc lost 7 tenths per second on Gasly in the race simulation.