Bahrain 2023 Testing February 23 - 25

Impressive sidepods undercut!
Hope our car will be competitive against this phenomenal team..

 

Forza Ferrari !

 

Very interesting clue for our car.
We are running a medium low rear wing which is unusual for Bahreïn.
Speaks volume about aero and PU.

 

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so on the straight there's a dent...and then when they brake it pops back? I can't see how is that beneficial,
only if it's so damn thin the weight saving is what they're after

 

Probably just a side effect of the car's airflow

 

it's not a structural part so likely just a very thin carbon layer and due to air pressures it dents in..ferrari said it's not intentional. Easy fix though and shouldn't add more than a couple of layers of carbon, barely any weight

 

Funny to see how all the teams that copied RB with downwash sidepods forgot to copy Ferrari’s full length undercut, ha-ha.

RB also using the the concave sidepods used (last year) but abandoned by Ferrari this year:

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Alpine porpoising quite a bit

 

Great, Merc has material for another midseason TD if the car still sucks

 

How does our horse look? Any initial thoughts?

 

Car seems to reasonably quick and so far reliable, but massive handing issues. If that's a structural issue, which can't be solved with setup adjustments, tire degradation will be a huge issue again (worse than in 2022).

 

Everyone has handling issue.
Track is green without rubber and grip.
Saw often Max with huge oversteer.
Don’t forget front tyres are brand new and top team are moving weight equilibrium to the front.
Our car has huge downforce, Sainz was matching Max speed in twisty sector (S2) with a medium-low downforce rear wing.
For now rear is unstable for both cars.

 

We should wait until Ferrari's number 1 driver gets on track

 

Here comes Chuck out on the track.

 

Both Bottas and Chuck seem to be having lock-up issues.

 

Mercedes buoyed by ‘no bouncing’ from new W14 F1 car
Mercedes is confident it is in a totally different place with its 2023 Formula 1 car compared to last year, after reporting ‘no bouncing’ on the opening day of testing.

 

it's only testing, but I'm loving watching the cars on track. ALO not setting a time yet.

 

The guys on the F1 TV app are spending a boat load of time talking about all the wavy stuff along the lower side pods. It looks horribly messy to me . . . and highly susceptible to damage with contact.