During the three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain, the F1 team covered 3,992 laps and a total of 21,603km. This is exactly half the distance around the earth, equivalent to 70 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix. Overall, reliability was very good. Plenty for most F1 teams to analyze to fine-tune their 2023 F1 cars for the record 23-race season that begins this weekend’s season opener at the Bahrain International Circuit. I managed to get the data.
F1 teams run different fuel loads (1kg can make a difference of 0.1 second per lap on some circuits) and use different aero/bodywork configurations and engine power levels, as well as different tyres. It’s extremely difficult to read the order in tests. But who has stepped forward, about the same, or stepped back… it is possible to identify some trends. Can defending champions Red Bull beat them? Red Bull came in as favorites to win, but even the reigning world champions could not have hoped for a more perfect pre-season test. In the qualifying trim, he was 0.28 seconds ahead of Mercedes, and in race simulation, he was 0.16 seconds ahead of Ferrari, taking the top position in his class. It was impressive how quickly two-time champion Max Verstappen began to push the limits of the RB19, an evolution of last year’s machine which won 17 out of 22 races. Red Bull’s confidence grew as they went through a program of aero tests, set-up changes and tire compound evaluations. At this time last year, Red Bull looked like a top class team and yet they were disappointed. However, this year he was running happily, unable to contain his excitement. There is no doubt that Red Bull and Verstappen are the favorites to win the season opener and this season. But what is encouraging for the other drivers is that they are not far away, they are within sight, given their run so far. Pre-season testing: Perez sets fastest lap in Bahrain Can Ferrari and Mercedes challenge Red Bull? With Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc completing 417 laps and only AlphaTauri and Williams recording more laps, Ferrari look perfectly placed to challenge the Red Bull juggernaut. The Scuderia has also made some significant changes. The power unit is believed to be more robust than last year and can be run at full power (the last two thirds of 2022 were unable to do this), which could be worth up to 0.3 seconds per lap of nature. Also, despite being less than two months old, new boss Fred Vasseur has already made changes in areas where he struggled last year, and has appointed Lovin Jayne, who is highly respected internally, to the strategic department has moved Inaki Rueda to a factory – based role. Frédéric Vasseur begins reform at Ferrari As far as the data goes, Ferrari is close to Red Bull in terms of qualifying and race pace, and after the last day of running, the team said, ‘This is not the best. But if you put everything together, you should be able to fight Red Bull.” It is not clear whether Mercedes’ rivals can say the same. The Silver Arrows were a tough test of fun and excitement, with Lewis Hamilton saying that ” a long way from where we wanted to be” and “there are mountains to climb”. On the positive side, however, the bounce that hampered development last year appears to have resolved and Hamilton feels that has a “good platform to start”. Has Aston Martin broken the top three stronghold? Aston Martin seems to have taken the biggest step in the pecking order. Last year it was 7th overall, but it seems its have jumped up to 4th. Leading the midfield and possibly even fighting for third place with Mercedes. Aston Martin officials, including two-time world champion driver Fernando Alonso, have struggled to downplay their form in testing .But if you ask your competitors, they are generally unanimous that Aston Martin has c take a big step forward and at least lead the midfield. Our data shows that we are 0.5si off in qualifying and 0.86si off in race simulation, putting us in fifth place, but we expect it to be much more, given how good the tire management is does it. Lance Stroll’s absence from testing was less than ideal and a wrist injury rules him out of the season opener. It will also take some time for Alonso to adjust to his new surroundings. But Alonso’s impact is already showing and it looks like we have a good base car that we can develop during the year. McLaren in trouble for the second year in a row? Like déjà vu, McLaren had a disastrous pre-season test for the second year in a row. 2022 was a brake duct problem, but this time it was hampered by repairs of “minor current issues”. There was also news that the specification of the car to be launched was not as detailed as hoped, as the team had failed to achieve some of its development goals. “It’s a big improvement from last year’s test,” said Lando Norris, who said it was a tense test for McLaren. It’s true that the mileage was last with 312 laps, but it was only 41 laps behind Alpine and 75 laps behind Aston Martin, so it’s not enough to worry about. With a major update expected early in the season (currently round four in Baku), the first few races could be difficult for McLaren. who is the dark horse? There are plenty of dark horse candidates this season, and the midfield could get even tighter and more competitive, with the gap to the traditional Big 3 (Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes) starting to close. Among them, Alpine is the most interesting, although he is 9th in both qualifying and the final on the data chart, and 9th out of 10 on the mileage chart. But there is great optimism within the Alpine F1 team. Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer is quietly confident of his chances, while Technical Director Matt Herrmann is lively and dry…
