Former Ferrari boss hopes for Bahrain revival

Former Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali is fully expecting his former team to bounce back from its Australian Grand Prix woes when round two of the Formula 1 season gets underway in Bahrain next week.

The Scuderia team went into last weekend's season-opener in Melbourne as favourites - following its dominance in pre-season testing in Barcelona last month.

But in qualifying, the Ferrari drivers were seven-tenths off Mercedes - and in the race, race-winner Valtteri Bottas was almost a minute in front of Sebastian Vettel, who finished just outside the podium in fourth.

Vettel never really threatened to dismantle the Silver Arrows' top positions and was eventually overtaken by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who completed the podium.

"Yes, that was a difficult week for them," Domenicali said, quoted by Speed Week. "Ferrari could not show a normal level of performance, but let us not forget that Melbourne is a special place.

"That's why, for me, Bahrain is the more reliable gauge for them."

Domenicali has urged the Italian teams against panicking in this situation, to avoid another dominant season from Mercedes.

"In Australia, the car was too slow, and I don't know if it was the tyres or the chassis or the engine," Domenicali continued. "If I look at the speed and the lap-times, it is clear that something did not go normally there.

"But they should not overreact now. We will find out in Bahrain what the real situation is."