Fred Vasseur says Ferrari is well prepared for its opening stint in Bahrain, but the Scuderia boss insists the championship "won't be won or lost" this weekend.
Ferrari enjoyed a good three-day test at Sakhir last week with its new-spec SF-23 car, and while only a full race weekend will reveal the Italian outfit's true level of performance, the team expects to be in the mix come race day.
But Vasseur has made clear that it's a long 23-race haul from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi, the longest in the history of F1. So how Ferrari achieves its result on Sunday will prove more important than the result itself.
"Testing was good and the three days last week showed that the car is matching our expectations and now we need to continue fine-tuning in order to get the most out of it," commented Vasseur.
"One thing is clear: this will be the Championship with the most races ever, so no matter what the result, the title won’t be won or lost in Bahrain”.
"We know the track pretty well, but the changing air and track temperatures, as well as changing wind conditions, plus the new Pirelli tyres will make it very tricky to get the set-up of the car right.
"But both Carlos and Charles collected a lot of data during the three test days, so we should be well prepared for a good weekend."
In pre-season testing, Ferrari set its quickest time – courtesy of Charles Leclerc – on Day 3 in the blistering morning heat.
But with qualifying and the race in Bahrain taking place in much cooler conditions, very different results should be expected insists Vasseur.
"What you have to keep in mind is that the race will be a completely different story with what we did this weekend," he explained.
"When Charles did the lap time this morning, it was 55 degrees of track temp.
"We have the race at six or seven, and also qualifying means that it is a completely different story.
"We have to take the test as a test and not as the first FP1 of the race in Bahrain.
"I think for this we did a good job to scan very large items on the car, focused on the long stints and did good improvements to the car."
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