Verstappen Tops First Practice Day
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was the only driver to run for a full day on the Formula 1 testing session taking place in Bahrain.
The Dutch driver ran for 157 laps at capped a time of 1'32.837. The big surprise today was Alonso’s second place on the board with a time of 1'32.866, just 0.029 seconds behind Verstappen’s time. The Spaniard ran for 70 laps.
Compared to last year’s test session, the top time was 1:31.720 (Verstappen). We have still yet to see the second and third day of testing session. Probably the teams will improve their lap times a little bit.
Today was about reliability, and sorting out any minute setup details. Drivers want to feel comfortable and confident when driving the car somewhat competitively for the first time. Simulations are over and for the first time in months, drivers are exposed to G forces and real grip levels.
Once these issues are sorted, drivers and teams will start pushing a bit more, and run race and qualifying simulations during testing.
Cars are supposed to be slower than last year. FIA has simplified a lot of the aerodynamic structures of the wings, barge boards and floor. This results in less grip and downforce during cornering.
At the moment cars are over a second slower compared to last year. Let’s see how much they improve over the course of the next few days.
Porpoising
We saw some of the cars suffer from porpoising or something of the sort. Fortunately for Mercedes, it seems that the issue is something of the past. He ran for more than 60 laps and did not suffer from the problem.
Fred Vasseur said that the main straight, before turn 1, and also before turn 12 of the circuit is full of bumps.
Another curious thing spotted was that cars are still using the tungsten bar at the rear of the barge board to provide extra rigidity to the structure. This bar was implemented to avoid or mitigate porpoising.
Teams like McLaren, Mercedes, and Williams were running with the tungsten bar. We did not see this structure during every presentation event, even Mercedes who has a couple of test laps around Silverstone.
McLaren woes
Lando Norris was not able to run his full program due to a problem with the wheel fairing of the car. The team spent a lot of time sorting out the issue.
Despite that, Norris was able to place himself in 5th place with a time of 1'33.462, 0.625 seconds behind Verstappen. He was also less than 2 tenths behind the Ferraris (3rd and 4th).
Last year McLaren was also in the spotlight for the same reason. Their practice program was hindered by issues around the car. Hopefully, today’s issues were only a minor hiccup and they will be able to run the full session over the next days.
If they are able to run without problems, they will gather much needed data and put them in a good position over their competitors for the 4th place in the constructor’s championship.
Too early to say
A few surprises have been noted on today’s test session. Albon secured a 7th place with Willaims; a pretty high position considering their recent seasons. Zhou Guanyu finished 8th with Alfa Romeo.
Logan Sargent managed to place on 10 with Williams on his Formula 1 debut, while Nick DeVries on 13th with the Alpha Tauri.
It’s too early to draw conclusions about the lap times placed today. Drivers are not pushing to the limit, and as mentioned earlier, today is all about sorting out issues and seeking reliability. It’s good to see that a lot of drivers went over the 50-lap mark.
Let’s see how the tests unfold in the upcoming days in Bahrain. The real performance will be seen once the season starts. We will be looking forward to it.
FORMULA 1 2023 BAHRAIN FEBRUARY TESTING RESULTS
Pos. | Driver | Team | Lap | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1'32.837 | |
2 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1'32.866 | 0.029 |
3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1'33.253 | 0.416 |
4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1'33.267 | 0.430 |
5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1'33.462 | 0.625 |
6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1'33.508 | 0.671 |
7 | Alex Albon | Williams | 1'33.671 | 0.834 |
8 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1'33.723 | 0.886 |
9 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1'34.174 | 1.337 |
10 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 1'34.324 | 1.487 |
11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1'34.424 | 1.587 |
12 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1'34.558 | 1.721 |
13 | Nyck de Vries | AlphaTauri | 1'34.559 | 1.722 |
14 | Felipe Drugovich | Aston Martin | 1'34.564 | 1.727 |
15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1'34.671 | 1.834 |
16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1'34.822 | 1.985 |
17 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1'34.871 | 2.034 |
18 | Oscar Piastri | Mercedes | 1'34.888 | 2.051 |
19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1'35.087 | 2.250 |
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