Powder fire. The 2023 Formula 1 season kicked off this morning with the morning session of the first day of pre-season tests in Sakhir, Bahrain, without however reserving any particular surprises.
Many eyes, before the green light in the pit lane, had focused on the Red Bull Racing RB19, the only car that remained hidden until the pre-season tests. This one took a while to show interesting things.
Max Verstappen, at the wheel of the new born from Milton Keynes, achieved the best time of the session thanks to a time of 1’32″959. The 2-time world champion was the only one to break down the 1’33” barrier by exploiting a New set of C3 compound tires (yellow Pirelli stripe and name on the shoulders).
The champion Constructors team did a great job not so much in data collection – the RB19 was the only one not to mount rakes this morning – but in terms of flows, covering different areas of the bodywork with the green flow viz. The study was carried out starting from the right side of the car up to the rear wing.
A little less than 3 tenths from Max here is the Ferrari SF-23, this morning entrusted to Carlos Sainz Jr. The Spaniard first performed aerodynamic tests with rakes, but then he worked a lot with C3 compounds, taking a good time and clocking 72 laps , one more than Verstappen.
Ferrari aroused particular attention in the first laps for a clear deformation of the upper part of the nose. Initially it was thought to be something studied by the Maranello engineers, but then the Scuderia itself made it clear that it was an effect due to the incorrect fixing of the nose itself, reducing the amazement at what was seen on the straights.
If the first two positions are not surprising, Alexander Albon’s third place in the Williams FW45 certainly brings different sensations. The Thai was the most active rider on the track with his 74 laps, but it should be emphasized that his time was the result of using a new set of C5 compounds, the softest in the 2023 range made by Pirelli.
Good time also for Guan Yu Zhou with the Alfa Romeo C43. The Chinese is 764 thousandths behind Verstappen and managed to precede George Russell and the Mercedes W14. The Brackley team concentrated most of the morning on work aimed at using the harder compounds, then C1 and C2, before moving on to the C3 and C3 proto (also tested by Sainz in his first 2 stints) in the second part.
The Briton’s time is not anchoring, because he is 1″2 behind Verstappen, but it is certain that Mercedes did not look for a fast time at all. Behind Russell here is one of the two rookies who lapped in the morning, Felipe Drugovich. The Brazilian of Aston Martin got off to a bad start, forcing the marshals to display the first red flag of the day just 9 minutes into testing due to an electrical failure on the AMR23.
Then, however, Stroll’s replacement improved steadily up to seventh place, ahead of the AlphaTauri AT04 of Yuki Tsunoda, the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and the McLaren of another rookie: Oscar Piastri. As far as Gasly is concerned, a lot of work was done in setting up the front, with numerous interventions on the front wing and many rounds with the rakes for aerodynamic evaluations.
The times in the morning are destined to drop in the afternoon, when the temperatures will drop and the single-seaters will already have more indications from the drivers who have had the opportunity to lap in the first 4 hours of these tests. It should also be noted that 6 single-seaters managed to cover the distance of at least one GP during the first 4 hours of testing. In Sakhir, remember, a GP is 57 steps long.
pos. | Pilot | Car | Time | Turns | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’32,959 | 71 | |
2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1’33.253 | 72 | +0.294s |
3 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 1’33.671 | 74 | +0.712s |
4 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 1’33.723 | 67 | +0.764s |
5 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1’34.174 | 69 | +1.215s |
6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1’34.424 | 51 | +1.465s |
7 | Felipe Drugovich | Aston Martin | 1’34,564 | 40 | +1.605s |
8 | Yuki Tsunoda | Alpha Tauri | 1’34.671 | 46 | +1.712s |
9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1’34.822 | 60 | +1.863s |
10 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1’34,888 | 52 | +1.929s |
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