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Tipped as pre-season favorites, the German and
new team mate Charles Leclerc finished fourth and fifth in
Melbourne, nearly a minute behind the dominant race-winning
Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.
Albert Park can be seen as something of an outlier but Ferrari
hope the more traditional layout of Bahrain’s 5.4-km Sakhir
desert track will allow them to unlock the full potential of the
SF90 car.
The most successful team in Bahrain, with six wins overall, can
draw encouragement from last year when Mercedes were faster in
Australia only for Ferrari to turn the tables with a front-row
lockout and victory for Vettel.
That also started a streak of three straight pole positions for
the German.
"In Bahrain, we expect to see the effect of the corrections we
have made ...," said principal Mattia Binotto, who replaced
Maurizio Arrivabene at the helm before the start of the season.
"We are well aware that our competitors will once again be very
strong. With that in mind, we are keen to get back on track and
face up to them."
Bottas, having driven what he described as the race of his life
in Australia to finish more than 20 seconds ahead of team mate
Lewis Hamilton in second place, will be keen to serve up a
thriller under the floodlights.
Having come within a second of snatching victory from Vettel
last year, Bottas has some unfinished business on Sunday while
Hamilton, who has taken two of Mercedes’ three wins in Bahrain,
will be keen to reassert his supremacy.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said nothing was won or lost at
Albert Park.
"Whatever the Melbourne result says, our mindset hasn't changed
since then," he said.
"We've seen the potential of Ferrari's package in Barcelona
(testing), so we expect them to come back strong in Bahrain,
with Red Bull in the mix as well."
Max Verstappen finished third for Red Bull in Australia, the
Milton Keynes-based team’s first race with new engine partners
Honda.
Frenchman Pierre Gasly, now driving alongside Verstappen,
finished fourth for Honda-powered Toro Rosso in Bahrain last
year and will be hoping to do even better on Sunday.
McLaren, which counts Bahrain’s Mumtalakat Holding Company among
its major shareholders, will be looking for their first points
after Lando Norris finished 12th and Carlos Sainz retired in
Australia.
Bahrain will also mark the start of the Formula Two Championship
with Mick Schumacher, son of seven-times Formula One champion
Michael and nephew of Ralf, making his debut in the support
category.
Schumacher, a part of Ferrari’s young driver academy, is also
scheduled to take part in a post-race test with Ferrari and Alfa
Romeo.
(Editing by Alan Baldwin/Peter Rutherford)
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