F1 | Chinese GP: dream Saturday for Ferrari to "repeat" in the race

In the leaden sky of Shanghai the red star shines very brightly Ferrari. A week after the one-two draw signed on the night of qualifying in Sakhir, the Cavallino team repeated the same result on Saturday Chinese Grand Prix monopolizing the front row of the grid with Sebastian Vettel author of the previous pole Kimi Raikkonen, stopped just under a tenth (87 thousandths to be exact) from best lap of the German and who once again pulled off a solid performance.

The Shanghai track, with its curves and its long straight, was another important test bed to evaluate the technical quality of the SF71-H which so far, according to what emerged this morning, has absolutely not disappointed expectations. In fact, it went well beyond all expectations, with two great performances on the flying lap that haven't been seen for a long time on a "mixed" track like the Chinese one. A result that gives us hope not only for tomorrow's race, but also for the rest of the season.

A dutiful underlining, this, which demonstrates, once again, the excellent work done by the men from Maranello to fill that important gap seen until recent years by Mercedes on the flying lap. Without forgetting another important aspect regarding temperatures, with the SF71-H becoming increasingly "chameleonic" and managing to express itself best in both heat and cold.

Mercedes, on the other hand, left, the Brackley fans will allow us, with broken bones at least from these official tests on a track that seemed tailor-made for the Star. A single-seater, the W09, seemed distantly related today to the one seen yesterday on the track. Especially with Lewis Hamilton who even aborted his last attempt on the flying lap, settling for fourth place from where he will start the race tomorrow. Symptom of a feeling that is not yet idyllic, at the moment, between Hammer and his Silver Arrow.

But the points, it is right to underline, will be awarded tomorrow in the race, where Ferrari will have to promptly preserve that grid advantage obtained splendidly today. “Freezing” the positions would in fact allow the Cavallino to be able to outline different strategies with Vettel and Raikkonen, along the lines of what happened in the first two outings of the season. Without clearly forgetting how important it would be from a world championship (and psychological) perspective to achieve a double. But Mercedes certainly won't stand by and watch, they won't give up, and they will try to make an attack especially with Hamilton. Without forgetting Bottas who just last Sunday mocked Raikkonen in the very first meters of the Bahrain GP.

The loose cannon could be represented by Red Bull, which appeared in the shade today and with a few too many reliability problems, which will start from the third row with the high-performance ultrasofts compared to the "yellow" ones with which Ferrari and Mercedes will start.

It will certainly be an intense and fun GP, ​​to be experienced lap by lap, which to date has taken on a red-coloured inertia.