Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFerrari

Further performance expected from Ferrari

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Ferrari could still have plenty of performance in hand, with Williams believing the power unit manufacturers will have been running “some way off optimum” at the first test.

Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas were keen to point out that Williams was not running the Mercedes power unit anywhere near its full potential during testing at Jerez, with Ferrari-powered dominance of the headline times being attributed to Mercedes hiding its performance.

Lewis Hamilton backed up that theory by claiming Ferrari was doing more attacking runs than its rivals, but Williams chief test and support engineer Rod Nelson expects all of the engine manufacturers to have kept plenty in reserve.

Asked how far off maximum performance Mercedes was running, Nelson replied: “I can’t give you an absolute number, I don’t know the absolute number is the honest truth.

“I’m sure it’s true to say that all four of the manufacturers are some way off optimum [at Jerez]. We’re not running quali-style maps and modes and all the rest of it, and I wouldn’t believe that anyone is.

“Renault has got essentially a very highly-developed version of last year’s engine. Mercedes has obviously been doing work, Honda’s brand new and Ferrari I’m sure has done quite a bit of work. So we’ll all be some distance off where we hope to be in Melbourne.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.