Ferrari are pushing hard and going all out to develop the F14T to catch up to Mercedes and Red Bull.

Technical Director, James Allison believes that they can close the gap to their rivals but he is also aware of the magnitude of the task and the effort that is required. “We are working in a constant way and with the highest levels of dedication in all the areas of potential development. We brought a useful upgrade to the Malaysian GP and were duly rewarded with a more competitive performance than at the first race, but the whole team is in no doubt about the size of the challenge that remains ahead of us this season,” said Allison.

“The work towards better performance encompasses all areas: “We are not disregarding anything,” adds Allison. “Much has been spoken about the new power units on the 2014 cars, but it is rarely mentioned that 1% of engine power is not so different in its effect on the stopwatch as 1% of aero efficiency,” he added.

“Our development programme will keep delivering steps to the efficiency of the F14-T; aero, power unit, mechanical grip – race by race these steps will help to hunt down those in front.”

“If we can keep up the progress that we made between Melbourne and Malaysia then it will start to tell in both in grid positions and in the Championship.”

While Allison feels optimistic about this weekends race, Fernando Alonso does not share much of the optimism. Alonso feels that in the short space of time between races, there’s not much development that can be done on the cars and they will be “more or less the same”

Alonso is however hoping for a strong finish in Bahrain.

Title photo courtesy Scuderia Ferrari