Scuderia
Ferrari team principal asserted that the pecking order isn't clear after the season's first race, and we have yet to get a "clear picture" of the pecking order.
Ferrari looked like the second-strongest team during the first race of the season at
Bahrain International Circuit,
with their drivers finishing in P3 and P4.
The team principal of the Italian team, Fred Vasseur,
suggested it created a bit of mixed feelings because, on the one hand, his team finished 20 seconds behind Red Bull, which is a considerable gap.
On the other hand, that gap was double the size during the 2023 season, so there has been clear progress. But, the Frenchman also suggested it wasn't a clean weekend for his team, so the drivers couldn't extract maximum potential from their cars. He told the media:
"First I'm not focused on Red Bull, I'm focused on myself and to try to get the best from what we have. It was not completely a clean sheet for us this weekend, we had too many small issues in quali yesterday, in the race today."
The team principal of the Prancing Horse also hinted we shouldn't try to define the Championship pecking order based on the first race. It featured particular conditions that will not be the same during the remaining 23 races of the season.
"And also we have to consider that Jeddah will be a completely different story, it’s not the same layout, and it’s not the same tarmac."
The Frenchman expects to better understand the gap between Red Bull and Ferrari's other rivals after the third race of the season- the
Australian Grand Prix.
"And we will have a better picture on the global situation after Melbourne probably, I would say. Before Melbourne it will be difficult to have a clear picture of the championship."