With pre-season testing officially over, the new era of F1 is upon us.
After the ‘non-testing shakedown’ in Barcelona, the teams and their drivers were given a final opportunity to get used to their new cars and fix any issues that crop up along the way, all prior to the new season.
The teams focused initially on understanding their cars’ reliability, and so it wasn’t until day three that the teams ramped it up a notch and started performance runs. As always, it’s important to note that teams are known for sandbagging during testing, so all results are to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Nonetheless, here are the six biggest takeaways from Bahrain’s pre-season test!
McLaren have a lot of work to do before the first race.
With Ricciardo unable to participate in testing, due to a positive COVID-19 test, it was up to Norris to do the driving on all three days. But this wasn’t their only issue as the team looked to be having severe issues with their brakes overheating. This hampered their ability to simulate long race runs – Norris completed just 200 laps in the three days – as they were unable to find a permanent fix within the testing window.
Sounding very clearly disheartened, the Brit wasn’t confident in the car’s abilities heading into the new season.
Perhaps the only plus on their side is that they appear to be one of, if not the only team that isn’t having issues with porpoising. Will they sort out their braking issues and take advantage of not being effected by porpoising? Only time will tell.
Are Mercedes sandbagging or are there serious issues?
Prior to testing, there were rumours Mercedes would arrive at Bahrain with a car vastly different to what was at Barcelona. Such rumours were entirely true as on day one of testing, the team introduced a revolutionary design.
The radical, slimline design turned many heads, not least of which Christian Horner’s who described it as “quite a different concept to certainly the concept that we’ve pursued … whether it’s the right route or whatever, only time will tell.”
Horner’s hesitancy to sing its praises may be consolidated by the issues that ensued, as throughout testing, Mercedes have looked to be plagued with incessant porpoising. Suffering with it arguably more than any other team, has left the drivers looking as though they’re at a Metallica concert down the pit straight.
However even though Mercedes are known for downplaying their performance and are no stranger to sandbagging, Lewis Hamilton seemed sincerely troubled by the potential in the W13. At the end of the final day he revealed that “at the moment, I don’t think we will be competing for wins … I think we have far bigger challenges this time.”
Although it must be said, it’s not all bad over at Mercedes. On the reliability front, Mercedes are leading the way having clocked up 385 laps across the test – which is much more than can be said for some.
Ferrari look to be the favourite.
Ferrari hit the ground running in Bahrain with Leclerc and/or Sainz in the top three each day. The quick lap times seemingly came easily for both drivers who have had an unwavering level of consistency throughout all sessions.
Although Ferrari are no stranger to leading the way in testing and having nothing to show for it come the first race, the F1-75 looks to be a very comfortable and stable car. Charles Leclerc for one has been full of praise for the car, and appears optimistic at how they’ll fare as a team at the first grand prix.
Whilst there is always a chance other teams were sandbagging (we’re looking at you Mercedes!), the consistent speed and reliability from both the car and drivers, puts them in a very positive position going into the first race.
Following is easier.
Perhaps the greatest issue with the previous generation of F1 cars is that they were notoriously hard to follow. That’s why one of the key goals for this new spec, was for the cars to allow for close following and therefore, close racing.
Throughout the three days, some drivers chose to simulate this and practiced following a car. On the final day it was Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton that gave this a try, and Gasly had plenty of encouraging words to say on the matter:
“It was interesting to follow and just to get some data and feeling following other cars.
We’re keeping our fingers firmly crossed that come the first grand prix, we’re in for close running, competitive racing and a lot more opportunity for overtakes.
Red bull make a good start to the season.
After turning everyone’s heads in Barcelona with their new sidepod design, the bulls had a relatively quiet start to testing.
That was until the final day in Bahrain, when with a new set of upgrades, they showed their hand by topping the timesheets in both the morning and afternoon session. Sergio Perez was first behind the wheel and first to try the newly updated side pods and floor before handing over to reigning champ Max Verstappen. In the afternoon session it was Verstappen who ultimately put together a P1 time of 1m 31.702s, almost seven-tenths clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
He was quick to downplay the success, adamant that “Nobody is [giving it] full beans in qualifying-spec at the moment”. However the smug grin on Helmut Marko’s face in the Red Bull garage told us all we needed to know.
Haas won’t go down without a fight.
For a team now renowned for their bad luck, Haas’ start to testing couldn’t have been much worse. Freight delays meant the team couldn’t participate in the first session and it wasn’t until day two and three that the team’s permanent drivers – Magnussen and Schumacher – could take to the track.
However even with the issues they had, it was reassuring to see them recover with Schumacher classifying 8th out of the 18 drivers that participated. After a seriously rocky few years, not to mention the past few weeks, there looks to be a new found confidence and positivity within the team.
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