Sunday debrief: 5 Takeaways from Bahrain testing

Testing concluded with Leclerc leading the final day of testing, Ferrari look to have composed themselves and found their form, as Sainz took the lead at the end of day 2. Over the three days no team faced major reliability issues, however, the concerns over reliability came instead from the track, with the drain cover being lifted on 2 out of 3 days.

 

1.     Has Adrian Newey done it again?

 

Has Adrian Newey done it again, with another title winning car under his belt. Red Bull have made “bold” changes with their RB20, as the team celebrate their 20th season in the sport, the RB20 looks to be another dominant build by the Milton Keynes team. One of the most notable changes being the sidepods, which appear to be a development of Mercedes failed ‘zero sidepod’ concept introduced at the start of the 2022 season.

 

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Verstappen led the first day of testing 1.14 seconds ahead of the cars behind, in day 2 Verstappen would complete in P4 on harder tyres to the cars ahead. On day 3, Perez completed the day in P2 behind the Ferrari, the RB20 looking to have maintained their competitive advantage over the rest of the pack. In day 2, however, Perez returned to the pits with brake issues, so the long-term reliability of the RB20 is not yet certain.

 

Could 2024 be a repeat of 2024? The title battle could be over before the season has even started.

 

2.     Ferrari will be in contention of P2

 

Ferrari led two of three days of testing and look to be the closes to chasing the Bulls in the championship.

 

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While the order between Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin, and McLaren looks to be close, Ferrari look to have made the greatest step forward in closing the gap between the Bulls and the rest. Though McLaren, Mercedes and Aston looked to have continue their development over the winter break and shouldn’t be overlooked.

The real order of the pack will be clearer after the season opener, but eyes will be on Ferrari to see if they can maintain the pace of testing.

 

3.     RB could be the leader of the midfield

 

While a large amount of discussion surrounding RB over the weekend was what the team will be called over the season, with the rebranded team being called Visa Cash App RB Racing. Would the team be nicknamed Cash App? Racing Bulls maybe? It has been decided that the team will be known as RB.

 

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RB, previously known as AlphaTauri in 2023, completed the 2023 season in P8, making a jump in the final stages of the season. while the progress shown in testing doesn’t appear to be ground-breaking, RB look to have made the right steps forward to potentially put the pressure on the back of the front leaders.

 

4.     Alpine haven’t recovered from 2023

 

Last season Alpine completed the season in P6, with 3 double DNF’s in the first half of the season. in 2022 Alpine finished in P4 and slipped two places back in 2023, Alpine could continue to slip further back in 2024. The new A524 being a completely new concept and the only thing remaining the same to the previous builds being the ‘steering wheel’. Alpine completed 333 laps over the 3 days, yet the benefits of the changes don’t appear to be showing.

 

Gasly told Sky “I don’t think we look great, but at the same time, we still have a couple of days to really understand everything we’ve done”

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“But i think we’ll have to be patient, even if it’s not what we like as driver, but clearly it might take some time before we really unlock the performance we want from the car”

 

Gasly concluded that, “ It’s not going to be an easy first race”. Alpine will be hoping to finish in the points at the season-opener or it will be a difficult season ahead for the Enstone team.

 

5.     The persistent issue with drain covers

First signs of issues with drain covers came several months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, after Sainz received a penalty after lifting a loose drain cover during a practice session. Sainz received an unfair penalty for the incident, and it appears to be the issue of the drain cover is an issue that will continue in 2024.

 

Two red flags came out over the 3 days for the same reason. On day 2, Leclerc brought out the red flag after he lifted the drain cover at Turn 11, resulting in damage to the floor of his Ferrari. On day 3, Perez made the same mistake early in the day, bringing him back to the pits promptly with the same concerns of damage to the floor, and resulting in the second session being extended to 7hrs with the first session ending early as Marshals worked to sort the issue.

 

The FIA look to be considering filling the drain holes with concrete ahead of the season opener next week.

 

With increased suction from the floors of F1 cars, created by the new ground-effect rules under the recent updates to the regulations, the strength is sucking up the loose drain covers. This wasn’t an issue for the previous F1 cars, could this be a reoccurring theme in 2024?

 

The repeat of the incident on two occasions in the space of 2 days, has drivers like Carlos Sainz, who received a harsh penalty for no fault of his own in Vegas, are protesting for rule changes and others like Verstappen asking for more rigorous track checks.

 

My season predictions after testing:

1.     Red Bull

2.     Ferrari

3.     McLaren

4.     Mercedes

5.     Aston Martin

6.     RB

7.     Stake

8.     Williams

9.     Alpine

10.  Haas