Max Verstappen believes Ferrari is “very close” to Red Bull at Formula 1’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Verstappen opened his title defence with the quickest time during second practice in representative conditions at the Bahrain International Circuit.
But Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished just 0.087s behind Verstappen while Leclerc’s team-mate Carlos Sainz was third.
“The car felt good,” said Verstappen. “Of course we have been testing here, so overall you are in a better window to start with. It felt alright.
“We tried a few things of course on the car, and they all seemed to be working well. Quite a straightforward and smooth day actually, so I’m really happy with that.
“Very pleased, but you can see Ferrari is pushing hard, and they’re very close, but that’s very exciting as well.
“We have to wait and see a little bit, also with engine modes tomorrow from all the teams to really see where we are.”
Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez classified seventh in the sister Red Bull.
“We’ve got some work to do overnight, to find a compromise with the set-up,” he said.
“We tried some different settings across the cars, so I think we’ve got good data to look at and hopefully pick up the best bits come tomorrow.”
