Since last weekend, Scuderia Ferrari have been feeling optimistic, and while at the Australian Grand Prix they only felt they had a chance, they now see themselves as almost favourites...
It is true that Carlos Sainz put in a sensational performance in Melbourne, but the truth is that it was only because Max Verstappen was hampered by a rarely seen technical fault. There seems to be a tendency to forget that in the challenger's mind these days...
"The Australian Grand Prix is perfect proof that if we put everything together well, we can put them under pressure. I'm not sure if we can do that every weekend, but if we can, we can force them to make mistakes. And that's good, we need to move in that direction! They're human too, if we put the pressure on them, if they keep seeing us in the mirror, if they have something to lose, they're going to get worse. We are more confident than we have ever been. We're more in control, we're more confident, we have a more positive attitude, and we saw that in Australia. From the first lap of the first day we had the pace, I feel that more and more our car can be the best on Sundays," said Scuderia Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, who was extremely optimistic.
It would be a great joy for any impartial fan, a truly exciting championship battle, but something tells me that this optimism is a little premature.