10 March 2023 , 15:40
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Ferrari will not be able to close the gap to Red Bull quickly enough to mount a serious title challenge this season, in the opinion of Ralf Schumacher.
Red Bull began the new Formula 1 campaign almost perfectly, taking first and second place while barely having to break a sweat. The only point dropped was the one for the fastest lap of the race, which went to nobody as Zhou Guanyu set the fastest time but finished outside the top 10.
The nearest car to the Red Bulls when Max Verstappen took the chequered flag was Fernando Alonso, 38 seconds down the road in third place. Charles Leclerc might have finished closed but we'll never know as he suffered an engine failure, while Carlos Sainz was 48 seconds off Verstappen at the end.
It was enough evidence for former F1 driver Schumacher to form the opinion that the performance gap is simply too big for Ferrari to close quickly enough. Asked by Formel1 if he thinks the Italian team can challenge for the championship in 2023, he replied: "I don't think so.
"I think it will take too long [to close the gap] and that Red Bull will time is already out of the picture unless, of course, there is technical bad luck. I would like it, but I fear that this will be a relatively boring season. It will revolve around two fighting team-mates."
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After the Bahrain race, Ferrari explained that they had not been able to perfect the race setup for their 2023 car. But Sky Sports pundit Martin Brundle is not convinced by that explanation, considering the hundreds of laps completed over the course of testing and free practice in the build up to the race.
Ralf Schumacher thinks Ferrari are already out of the title race (Getty Images)He wrote in his column: "It was a disappointing weekend for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc retiring when on course for third place after an apparent issue with the electrical system in his Ferrari power unit. Leclerc's failure came after Ferrari had to change the Energy Store in his car before the race, which was a surprise given you only have the use of two of those through the season before penalties kick in.
"As for their general lack of race pace compared to the Red Bulls, they're saying it was down to the car set-up in race trim, but after three relentless days of testing in Bahrain and then a three-day GP weekend, it seems a bit odd that the set-up wasn't close to optimal.
"Carlos Sainz struggled a little throughout the event and will be looking forward to putting that right next week in Saudi Arabia. Ferrari still look the closest challengers to Red Bull in this phase, though."