Guenther Steiner: "Ferrari is pretty close to Mercedes"

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes that Ferrari are close to Mercedes in the pecking order. His comments come after Ferrari's impressive display over the first two days of testing.

"The Mercedes is a beautiful and well designed car, but the Ferrari is also fantastic," Gunther Steiner also told the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet. "They are the two fastest cars out there.

"From what I've seen so far, I think Ferrari is pretty close to Mercedes. What Ferrari has shown is very encouraging, because we might have a close fight for the championship," he added. "I hope so."

Ferrari are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 2016 where they emerged winless and third in the constructors championship. They are keeping a hush over their winter proceedings, to not create any hype which could let them down in the season to come.

Fergal Walsh