F1 | Ferrari, Vettel on the next Bahrain GP: "Every mistake costs dearly in terms of time"

Interviewed by the official Ferrari website, Sebastian Vettel spoke about the next Bahrain Grand Prix, the second round of this 2019 Formula 1 world championship, underlining the many critical points that the drivers will have to face during the weekend at the Sakhir International Circuit.

The sand and dirt on the track, in fact, will play a key role in preparing for the race, especially with regards to work on Friday. Furthermore, the change in conditions resulting from the time will make the process of setting up the SF90 more difficult, given that the team and drivers will only have the afternoon session on Friday to test the single-seater in the real race configuration (lower temperatures and artificial light .ed).

“In terms of difficulty, the Bahrain track can be configured as normal”, said the German from Ferrari, winner of last edition ahead of the two Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. “It's not always easy to get the right pace in practice because the track is dirty with sand and there is often a strong wind. So in many cases each lap of the track is different from the previous one and this can make the difference especially in qualifying. It is enough to be off the ideal trajectory by even a few centimeters for the wheels to start to skid and tenths are irremediably lost."

On the driving difficulties and the many overtaking points of the Sakhir he added: “Here, every mistake costs you dearly in terms of time. For the same reason you need to be very careful when overtaking, waiting for a small error from the driver in front to try to pass in front of him. As far as overtaking is concerned, however, turns 1 and 14 must be followed carefully, i.e. the braking sections after the two long straights".