Bahrain 2023 Testing February 23 - 25

Don't know what to think about Sainz, he should have topped Lec's time on his C4 runs by atleast 0.500 sec considering the track evolution.

 

Looking forward to the car radio transmissions next week...

 

orders to not play their hand...

sjd

 

Ferrari doesn’t appear interested in any glory runs. I think they are busy tweaking….

 

This is all part of Ferrari's master plan... you will all see it soon..

 

Most likely. Leclerc said that this morning felt the best for him, but they are still searching for the optimal set up for sf-23

 

the reintroduction of binotto?

sjd

 

VSC and red flag testing... enjoy your week, gang!

sjd

 

Fernando's race sim stint was very fast. He will be up there competing for podiums at least a few times this season, finally.

 

I'm holding you to that comment sir

 

I’ll reserve judgement until next weekend. Looking forward to watching some racing again.

 

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top speeds day 3...

 

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this should worry Mercedes significantly.

wouldn't be at all surprised if they manage a win this year.

 

Tbh that C3 run is not that impressive

 

that's the start of the run on full tank.

 

I also see them challenging Merc this year. But to win a race? That would almost mean neither one of the Ferrari's or Red Bulls finishing a race.

 

If MB are behind RB and SF and are fending off AM, how will the FIA help them this time?

 

How can MB be slow if they were only .100 slower last year at the end? BFS

 

More stable but slower/less nimble??

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/hamilton-new-mercedes-retains-underlying-things-from-troubled-2022/10436430/

Hamilton: New Mercedes retains "underlying things" from troubled 2022
Lewis Hamilton says there are “underlying things” that have carried over from the troubled 2022 Mercedes Formula 1 car to the new W14.

Hamilton said that “underlying” issues from the draggy W13 had carried over to the new car.

Speaking on Saturday, the seven-time champion reported: “It’s difficult to sum [progress on new car] up.


“We’ve had a couple of difficult days and yesterday particularly was difficult. The first day didn’t feel too bad. Yesterday was a little bit more of a struggle.

“George has had a much better morning today [running to second in the times behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc], so things are going up, so hopefully we’ve got the set-up in the middle of the place.”

 

Leclerc: 2023 Ferrari F1 car better on straights but slower in corners
Charles Leclerc expects Ferrari’s 2023 Formula 1 car to be better in a straight line compared its 2022 challenger but thinks it will perhaps struggle slightly “more in the corners”.

Ferrari has been trialling different wing packages throughout the soon-to-conclude Bahrain pre-season test and the SF-23 has been tracked performing well on GPS traces compared to the RB19 down the track’s long straights, while the RB19 seems to have an edge in high-speed corners – with a caveat that teams typically run in lower engine power modes or with set heavy fuel loads during testing runs.

When asked by Autosport if Ferrari’s slight design philosophy change had altered the feeling of the car package for its drivers, Leclerc replied: “It did. I won’t go into too much details, but I think that was done in the right way.

“And I think we have a less draggy car, so that should be better this year. But it changed other characteristics.

“All in line with what we expected, but we still need to find the right set-up for these new characteristics.”

 

I like competition so this is worrisome….

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-rb19-definitely-an-improvement-over-2022-f1-car-verstappen/10436414/

 

Frankly I really don’t understand our aero configuration for the tests.
Why testing with an unbalanced aero setup ?
Base concept weaknesses or hidden strength ?
Soon we will have answers..

 

Ferrari was testing the limits of suspension, and the rear wings might not be used in Bahrain GP, but in other races. Bahrain is not a typical track in the calendar, doing the set up for this track can be done easily in the FP sessions next weekend.

 

Hope you are right.
If true our car has a lot of room for improvement.

 

The numbers/times are there. This is a car/team to fear.....again. Via Autosport.com:

--Nevertheless, you’d now be hard-pressed to find anyone who argues for a team other than the Milton Keynes squad as having ‘won’ testing. Ominously, when fulfilling media duties at lunch time, Verstappen revealed that the RB19 has definitely taken a step over its 17-grand prix-winning predecessor and that it requires an altered driving style to be fully exploited thanks to a raft of evolutions. While teams and drivers are always reluctant to give too much away at any point before the first qualifying shootout of the season, an openly “happy” Red Bull camp is a camp to be feared.

Verstappen explained: “I think the car is working really well. [We’ve] just been going through a lot of things that we wanted to try, and everything is very interesting, what we have been trying. So very positive days for me. And just in general enjoying driving the car.

“There are quite a few differences in the cars. It definitely drives a bit different. I think that's also a bit related to the tyres. But overall, I think it's definitely an improvement from last year. We already have things in the pipeline coming, and just work in progress.”--