Ferrari’s power advantage is around 40hp according to GPS data – AMuS. In Bahrain Ferrari have been able to partially reveal just how powerful their 2019 engine is.

According to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel gained 4 tenths of a second over Mercedes on the four straights of the 5.412-kilometer Sakhir circuit, a staggering pace advantage.

“Under these circumstances, it will be difficult to beat them” says Toto Wolff, “No one else can keep up,”.

Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto claimed after the race that Mercedes were running more downforce and therefore lost out to Ferrari on the straights but Toto Wolff says otherwise saying it’s simply down to “sheer engine power.”, while their Chief Engineer Andrew Shovlin concurs saying that “We observe the phenomenon equally well on straights with and without DRS. So this has little to do with the downforce Ferrari chose to run.”

During the weekend, AMuS published their GPS comparison data of six teams in qualifying at Bahrain and it shows that Ferrari way out ahead on the straights with a surprise showing for McLaren in second place suggesting that Renault has found some improvements and McLaren has produced a ‘slippery’ car. That said, their cars still lose three tenths to Ferrari at full throttle and Red Bull Honda lose at least six tenth, making it potentially dismal year for Max Verstappen.

Further revelations from an anonymous Mercedes engineer in the paddock after the race reveals they are really worried for the rest of the season.

“For us, the speed on the straight flattens off at a certain point, because the MGU-K no longer delivers power. Ferrari’s power is always on. The MGU-K just does not turn off. It looks like they have advantages from the combustion engine and the electric power.”

Adding up the numbers, and Mercedes admissions; AMuS has calculated an increase over the output of Mercedes of around 40 hp, which is a huge leap. The strangest part of the story is that of the Ferrari customer teams such as Haas. The American’s lose around 6 tenths on the straights to the Ferrari’s, despite supposedly adhering to FIA mandated rules that power units must remain identical for customers. Yes, the Haas cars were running low downforce, but this difference is simply too big.

What is also interesting, AMusS has calculated that Haas and Alfa Romeo can still keep up at the beginning of the straight, but they are massively down in the second half. This could most likely indicate to a serious advantage in the electrical parts of the Ferrari power unit, but as they must run identical engines to their customers, the difference may result from the fuel quality advantages.

Whatever the reasons, it is now clear that Ferrari have had this power advantage from the start, but hasn’t shown it yet. In Barcelona, they didn’t want to, and in Melbourne, because they couldn’t. In Australia, AMuS claim that Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were only allowed to turn up their engine modes during the race for the laps before and after the pit stop. The rest of the race they were limited to approximately 40 hp less than Mercedes. Turning the engine mode back up led to excessive fuel consumption.

Now it seems that in Bahrain Ferrari have been able to partially reveal just how powerful their 2019 engine is, a very big concern for the competition when the next races are China and Azerbaijan, two circuits with the longest straights on the calendar.