Ferrari, Red Bull seems ahead. Mercedes in trouble – Corriere.it

They talk hard, Laurent Mekies cornered and Charles Leclerc standing. In his new role as confessor, the Frenchman is called to have a closer relationship than before with the pilots, to listen to them. As soon as he got out of the car, the Monegasque worked on the distance, on the race simulations. Not bad.

The Ferrari

He is the king of fast laps, 18 poles in his career for only five victories. Accounts that do not add up, must be settled to aim for the World Cup. But that he struggles to shed his skin, transform himself from sprinter to cross-country skier. a metamorphosis that passes through an obligatory technical path, the new SF-23 for now remains a mysterious object and as Carlos Sainz says we hope that in the race weekend next week it will become a Red Beast. For now it seems tame, even too much. Vices of youth? Or fit issues? Perhaps, but there is also a well-founded fear that Red Bull – which also had its little problems yesterday afternoon which slowed down Verstappen, 47 laps for Max and 76 for Perez – has raised the bar to very high levels.

Carlos’ other words should also be read like this: We certainly aren’t slow, but we don’t know how fast we are compared to them. the classic game of test masks, where outsiders emerge from the smokescreen to climb the leaderboards. Like Guanyu Zhou, who arrived in F1 with the reputation of being recommended, and instead the Chinese is proving to be solid. He fired the tempo getting in front of Max with the fastest tires in the range, squeezing the Ferrari engine out of the Alfa-Sauber. A good taste of the cavalry, a pity that he then crashed in the pit lane due to an unspecified problem, even if sources close to the team say it is not the power unit.

No longer a surprise Fernando Alonso, regularly top the Aston Martin designed by ex-Red Bull Dan Fallows and Italian aerodynamicist Luca Furbatto. Maybe we will play for the free places behind the big names, which are two for now.

Mercedes in trouble

Mercedes, by admission of its boss Toto Wolff, he won’t be able to fight for victory at the start. And maybe not even after, considering the dark faces. The one of George Russell, grounded by a hydraulic leak. Those of the engineers who insisted on a losing concept hoping to straighten it out. And now they will be forced to copy their opponents to make up ground, because the new updates will go in the direction of Red Bull and Ferrari. It already feels like a surrender. Wolff also added that Verstappen – tests finished for him, today only Perez is running -, is hiding. If true, it would be a big problem for anyone trying to track him down.

Ferrari, qualifying laps today

Leclerc for now is limited to sentences of circumstance: We are following the program, we have not had any reliability problems. We are finding the data we were looking for. It follows the corporate script of the glass half full, waiting to try to fill the other half as well. Because the Red Bull carafe seems overflowing, and even the reds know this. The technical menu will be enriched – a new bottom is coming and also a different rear wing -, today Charles and Carlos will try the qualifying laps. the beginning of the end of the masquerade ball.