Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto says the squad’s pace in Bahrain’s practice sessions was down to it trialling different engine modes.
Ferrari trailed Mercedes throughout the Australian Grand Prix weekend and also fell behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc taking fourth and fifth respectively.
But in Bahrain the Ferrari drivers comfortably led both sessions, with Leclerc quickest in the daytime session before Vettel edged his team-mate during the evening running.
Mercedes, meanwhile, finished six-tenths down, but Vettel was eager to dismiss Ferrari’s pace advantage, a stance which was also reinforced by Binotto.
“Today, we focused on ourselves, on our programmes, on the dedications we made after Australia, trying to react and address the issues we had,” he said.
“I think the delta you see here is not too significant.
“I think tomorrow it will be certainly a tough battle. The others will be very strong tomorrow.
“It’s quite obvious, you may see the GPS data, the speed on the straights, we were certainly pushing different engine modes compared to what the others were pushing.
“We’re expecting a tough battle tomorrow, but I think more important is staying focused on ourselves, we improved our situation after Australian.
“This one is quite a different track. Let’s say we didn’t have today the problem we suffered in the Australia, thanks to the track and thanks to the modification we made."
Binotto was coy on the reasons Ferrari suspects led to its disappointing result in Australia, but was keen to dismiss suggestions that cooling issues were behind its lacklustre showing.
“I will not go into details on what happened, that’s our matter,” he said.
“I saw a lot of speculation on the newspapers and internet. What I read is not fully true. We did not have issues of cooling, I may tell you that.
“At the end of Australia, it has been a sum of many factors, from the power unit to the set-up to tyre management. And I think it’s only the sum of what we have seen in Australia.”
