Bahrain 2023 Testing February 23 - 25

His last stint on C1 is pretty convincing.
Wait and see.

 

Comparing it to Perez's stint this morning I disagree (Perez' stint in less favourable conditions and tyres C2 vs C1 on 2nd stint).

And if I've got the right data for Max's stint yesterday it's really something else.

 

They are not running same engine modes or fuel, keep that in mind.

 

well, we don't know about engine modes, I agree.

As for fuel, the data from both Max and Perez where full race runs i.e. no refueling, 57 laps. Leclerc's was 2 stints worth, presumably cut short because of the red flag as I assume they wanted to continue.

 

Let’s see after a few races; we looked good after 3 races last year …

 

Day 2 impressions Autosport: Cars and their drivers - https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/what-watching-trackside-in-bahrain-indicates-about-f1-2023/10436101/

--The Red Bull pairing are much more contrasting. As reflected in Max Verstappen’s personal best lap of 1m31.650s, which dropped the times below his late low-fuel glory run at the circuit in testing in 2022, the Dutch ace seems ominously happy behind the wheel. The aggression with which he attacks the Turns 5 to 7 slalom is remarkable as the car responds to every input by darting violently through the left-sharp right-left.

Sergio Perez seems to struggle far more, whether on the medium or white-walled hard tyre. Again, it’s important to consider that the hotter temperatures of the early afternoon are not his friend. But lap after lap he’s making a meal of Turn 10. Over the course of half an hour and two compounds, there’s half a dozen heavy lock-ups of the inside wheel. Sometimes he can keep the car on the island. On other occasions, he runs the RB19 off the asphalt and over the sandy exit strip before rejoining some way down the back straight.

As the undeveloped RB18 early into last season underlined, Perez is far-better suited to managing an unstable front end than he is a skittish rear. While his struggles in Bahrain this time around indicate unhappiness with the fronts, it could still be initiated by a looser back axle. Given the steep descent into the shallower Turn 9 kink, the rear can go light and step out of line. If a driver keeps applying the steering lock to make the corner and the front suddenly grips, it can snap wide to explain Perez’s frequent troubles.

Of Red Bull’s main rivals, the Ferrari appears to be haunted by ghosts of the recent past in so far as mechanical grip, rather than aero, seems to be a limiting factor. There’s frequent episodes of understeer and short stints as the tyres cry mercy before long for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. While Mercedes has so far owned up to balance issues, the W14 looks much more consistent (if clearly lacking the 'wow' factor of the Red Bull) as the second day wears on.--

 

Doesn't look good so far.....

 

What doesn't look good? Ferrari has gotten through their program without issues and are quite happy

 

No, it doesn't. Ferrari seem to be dealing with a lot of oversteer and tire degradation still.

Red Bull look like they're on rails again. I don't think anybody is sandbagging to any serious extent given the schedule.

 

https://www.ferrari.com/en-EN/formula1/articles/bahrain-pre-season-testing-2023-day-2

Carlos Sainz #55

"It’s been another positive day. Reliability was again very good and we've been able to explore all the set-ups we targeted to test. We keep exploring the limits of the car and finding potential areas where we can maximise performance. The main target is to keep up the good work tomorrow and get ready for next week"


Charles Leclerc #16

"We ran various tests today, with our main focus on the car’s set-up. We are working hard and it’s still too early to make any judgement yet. It was good to get some more laps down and we will keep pushing forward by analysing our data ahead of the last day of testing tomorrow."

 

You do realise the cars are atleast 2 secs off of their proper pace?
Leclerc said literally in an interview that they aren't showing all what they got until next weekend. Don't know if that can be called sandbagging?

 

According to some Italians media, Ferrari will run tomorrow with a more loaded rear wing and with a stiffer setup.,
Interesting.

 

true test comes next week in the season opener

 

Let’s cheer up and not be pessimists: Ferrari is in a far better position than it was last year now that Iñaki Rueda has been given a task far more suited to his capabilities, in charge of the doors’ maintenance at the factory and miles away from the track. I have faith this year.

 

The same goes for other teams like Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston...they're all hiding something.

Ferrari seems to kill it's rears too quickly. Mercedes has horrendous understeer.

Ferrari's may be because of the skinny rear wing, with any luck.

 

Want to see the most brilliant bit of engineering technology revealed so far? It's the Haas pit wall going from 6 to 3 seats and saving them a quarter million dollars to spend on developing the car (according to them anyway) Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

So they will be multi-tasking for both drivers? Interesting.

 

It's always so confusing reading FChat.

 

I read one Italian news site saying that the new floor will be run for the first time tomorrow; and maybe the rear wing, or the wing might come next week.
I'm guessing that's the wing they will use in the race, the current one is too low downforce, you need more downforce to get traction that is key in Bahrain.

 

At the end of the day we won’t know anything after these “tests” (in reality it is practice as the season is the real test) as there are far too many variables re setups, tires, fuel loads, sandbagging, etc.

“When the green flag drops, the bs stops.”

that’s when we see the pecking order-after the first few races

 

Hopefully Ferrari knows a lot after these tests. These tests are not just a preparation for the race next week. They are meant to gather as much data as possible about all the different requirements for 20+ tracks, and to hopefully guide them in making their plans for upgrades. Each subsequent race will add to that knowledgebase, allowing further refinement of planning for next race and for upgrades.

 

it's the gamesmanship of testing. Get a spreadsheet of sector times, sort out the lowest of each sector for any given car. add those three into your theoretical lap. No one will play their hand...actually with predictives, you don't even need to do that, I bet. They can be yellow every sector and know what the ideal is to be purple, or even personal best.

Write down the final times tomorrow...I think they did...31s? today. Save those times for Q3 next week.

sjd

 

This lends credence to what is being discussed on Twitter and some forums—Ferrari using under-sized wing to test their lower DF set up and not necessarily adapted to this circuit.

If true, and a higher DF wing is used tomorrow (tonight ;-) then expect lower terminal speed but better lap times and tire deg. Hopefully.

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

I'll post times for all 3 days combined, gaps, speed traps, laps and tire compound....it's testing so take the information for what it's worth.

I will also post kilometers per team and probably by manufacturer(engine) as well.

 

So by the end of race three, the cars will be where they should have been on FP1 of race one. The big difference is that now they sucker people into paying money for tickets to the first three real testing weekends by conning them into thinking it is racing. Tomorrow is the 3rd and final day of faux testing. In reality it has been about letting the paint dry, testing the lug wrenches, putting our press releases, and posing for pictures.