The official pre-season testing in Bahrain is currently underway. The F1 teams are relentlessly testing the new 2022 cars to get on top of the regulations and come out ahead of their rivals. But it looks like there might be a change at the top of the sport in the 2022 season. Ferrari are looking to be the strongest as well as the most reliable team thus far in the 5 days of pre season testing.

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Many on the paddock have claimed that the Italian team is currently ahead of everyone. Mercedes and Red Bull both have had their issues in the testing and looked behind Ferrari in terms of pace.

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As reported by AutoMotorUndSport, Red Bull chief designer Adrian Newey and advisor Helmut Marko both agree that the Italian team is currently leading the pack. After the 3 days of testing in Barcelona and 2 days of testing in Bahrain, Ferrari have been the only team to not encounter any issue other than porpoising.

A Mercedes engineer mentioned if the race was tomorrow, then the Italian team would dominate it.

“Red Bull and we are in the same boat, and that’s not rowing in normal form at the moment. If there was a race on Sunday, Ferrari would win by a clear margin,” said the Mercedes engineer.

Adrian Newey mentioned that the Austrian team is facing some problems as compared to their rivals. He stated the team is currently in unfamiliar territory.

“We are moving in unfamiliar territory. These cars are so new that we first have to understand them,” said the Red Bull CTO.

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It is still a bit early to judge the pace of every team as it is still preseason testing. We might get a full picture at the practice sessions of the first race of the season in Bahrain next week. But it is clear that Ferrari has an early advantage going into the new season.