It seems very optimistic to me to say that RUS was gonna be close or Ferrari is marginally better than Mercedes.
RUS (good lap) v LEC
RUS (aborted lap) v LEC
* Russell goes through 7-8-9-10 with something like 10kph less speed than LEC through 3 different apexes, 0.4s lost in just that set of corners.
* T4 for Russell was 22kph slower speed on average through the corner.
The 2nd attempt from Russell went bust because he tried to bridge that gap in 7-8-9-10 from 10 to just 6 and he lost control of the rear of the car.
To top it all off, that Mercedes that gnawed on those tires in Bahrain, has less downforce than the Ferrari packed in, so to keep up in those corners they will burn through tires during the race as the car gets lighter and everyone else will be able to push the car a bit more in S1.
These 2 cars are not the same.
EDIT: and all of this lesser downforce for what? 3kph more speed? Good luck.