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F1 Testing: Boullier ‘surprised’ to see Ferrari matching Mercedes

McLaren-Honda racing director Eric Boullier has played up Ferrari chances coming into the 2017 Formula 1 season after showing eye-catching pace relative to Mercedes during the first pre-season test.

Though the first four days of test makes it difficult to know the true form of teams as they shakedown their new 2017 cars, Ferrari's consistently quick and reliable form was difficult to ignore compared to Mercedes, who arguably had a more obvious advantage this time 12 months ago.

Indeed, Ferrari's best lap times came when using firmer tyre compounds than Mercedes, though the levels of fuel make it difficult to make a solid comparison.

Even so, Boullier - whose McLaren team suffered a difficult start to the test due to technical problems - was impressed by Ferrari's form out of the box, but does say 'everyone has a secret' that won't become clear until Australia.

"You don't know the level of fuel, you don't know the level of, especially the Mercedes engine, when you switch down the power, but if I may say something it's maybe that the Ferrari is surprising, maybe people were not expecting Ferrari to be matching Mercedes in times.

"Red Bull a bit down but you never know the fuel level. Everybody has got it on secret. Everybody is changing the plans.

"So even between teams we try to find out or sort out who is doing what. It's not easy. I guess the next week test will be a bit more revealing about performance but definitely we will have to wait until Australia.

Zdroj: crash.net