Typical of Mercedes and George Russell to 'hype up' others, claims Ferrari's Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz downplayed the claims made by Mercedes driver George Russell, suggesting that Ferrari were the strongest in pre-season tests. The Spanish driver believes it is typical of the Briton and his team to hype other teams ahead of a season until they prove they are better come race day.

Commenting on the Mercedes driver’s comments about Ferrari’s performance, Sainz said:

“I think it’s typical Mercedes, typical George. Just hype up the others and then come to the first race and blow the competition away, which is typical. If it had would be the first year they’ve done it then I would maybe believe them, but they’ve done it for five six years now and they keep [performing] in the first race.”

According to the Ferrari driver, Mercedes have had a trend over the last few years where they often deem their rivals to be better than them until the season opener. Sainz expressed his disbelief at the Silver Arrows squad’s comments because he feels it is not the first time that they have hyped a rival team during pre-season tests.

Hinting at the Silver Arrows' progress in the preseason test, Sainz said:

“So, as you can imagine I don’t think much [of the comments] and yes, already in GPS [data] we can also see what they are doing and yes, I’m not going to say much… yes, I’m not going to say much.”

Indirectly, the Ferrari driver suggested that the Brackley-based squad could be downplaying their own performance. The Spaniard, however, also revealed that he was aware of their progress but refused to comment on the comparison between the two teams' performances.

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Carlos Sainz refutes claims made by Mercedes about their performance in Bahrain

The Ferrari driver believes it is too difficult to draw conclusions about the team's performances in Bahrain due to the tricky track and weather conditions. Sainz believes it is too early to make predictions due to the ever-changing conditions of the desert circuit.

Describing the unpredictability in terms of performance, the Ferrari driver said:

“Particularly here in Bahrain… one hour changes everything. A wind direction change here can mean once corner becomes super tricky to super easy and some track temperature up and down just means you are two-three tenths quicker [or slower]. So it’s very difficult to take conclusions in Bahrain, even when you are testing stuff that you’re interested in taking conclusions.”

While Sainz has downplayed Ferrari’s performance at the pre-season tests so far, their mileage indicates otherwise. Not only has the Maranello team designed one of the most innovative cars, they have also worked on a competitive engine which has made their rivals nervous.