Sebastian Vettel heads into the Bahrain Grand Prix fresh from having won Formula One's Australian season opener
Sebastian Vettel
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Sebastian Vettel heads into the Bahrain Grand Prix fresh from having won Formula One's Australian season opener, but the German's hopes of racing to an unprecedented fourth win at the Sakhir circuit could well depend on Ferrari making a big step up.
The 30-year-old snatched an opportunistic win from Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton two weeks ago at Melbourne's Albert Park circuit to take the early championship lead. But that came courtesy the timely deployment of the virtual safety car with Hamilton, until then, set to wrap up a comfortable victory in his Mercedes which had a clear edge over Vettel's Ferrari all weekend.
"If you look at the pace, testing, first race, (it's) very clear that Mercedes is fastest," Vettel told reporters on at the Sakhir circuit on Thursday. "But we go racing. As you saw a couple of weeks ago in Australia, as you saw many times over the past years … you never really know what happens." Past form in Bahrain is certainly on Vettel's side. The German and Fernando Alonso are the most successful drivers at the track with three wins each. Vettel took his most recent win in the island kingdom last year for Ferrari, breaking Mercedes' three-year stranglehold on the event. Friday's practice sessions also offered encouraging signs with Raikkonen heading Vettel in a Ferrari one-two at the top of the time-sheets. But Hamilton, who scored two of those three wins for Mercedes and is on course to match Kimi Raikkonen's record of 27 straight points finishes this weekend, goes into the race determined to make up for his lost Australian win.
"It feels like a dark cloud but it's not," said the 33-year-old after the race in Melbourne. "We have a great car, we are still the world champions and with a couple of adjustments we can win the next race." Hamilton's Mercedes team are expecting fans to be treated to a twilit thriller on Sunday, tipping Red Bull to also be in the mix. The team's Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest lap in Melbourne as he battled Raikkonen for the final podium spot, with the outfit's boss Christian Horner saying the former champions' car was actually quicker than Ferrari's.
Speaking to reporters in Bahrain, Ricciardo said if Red Bull can reproduce the speed they displayed in Melbourne this weekend, he could have a shot at the win. "In clear air we were actually very, very strong," the 28-year-old told reporters. "If we have the same car on Sunday that we had in Melbourne on Sunday, I think we'll be very close. It's a different track but if those circumstances are the same I think we'll be very close."
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