F1 | Perez's Red Bull is contestable. And Verstappen's?

There isn't a Red Bull at the top of the day's standings. The second of three days of testing on the Sakhir circuit reduced (a little) the fears that emerged yesterday in the paddock after Max Verstappen's 'monster' performance.

Today it was Ferrari who took the lead, with Carlos Sainz setting the best time seen so far in these tests (1'29″921) achieved with C4 tyres. However, it is difficult to compare the Spaniard's time with the time achieved by Verstappen twenty-four hours earlier, due to the difference in compound and temperature.

Sergio Perez, with the C3, confirmed himself to be eight tenths behind Sainz, and if we rely on a simple calculation based on the difference in performance of the compounds (according to Pirelli the gap between the C3 and the C4 is exactly eight tenths) a very similar step emerges between Red Bull and Ferrari.

Red Bull is, obviously, always the reference car, but in Perez's hands it appears to be a not impossible opponent for Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren. Without Verstappen on the track, Formula 1 suddenly seems like a sport with unpredictable outcomes, with very thin margins dictating the hierarchies.

It's a story we already saw last year, Perez confirmed he was able to lap very close to his teammate in the first four races and then returned to the humans. The differences in performance between the two drivers are at home in the Red Bull garage, but in these very first steps of the season he may not be the only one.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

At the moment there is talk of 'feeling' with the new single-seaters, and in the hands of Lewis Hamilton Mercedes also showed signs of life by obtaining the third fastest time of the day in the final stages. “It's undoubtedly a better car than the 2023 one – commented Lewis – we'll see in terms of performance, but it's much more pleasant to drive. I can't wait to get back in the car tomorrow morning.”

The morning session was closed an hour early due to a manhole that came off the road near turn 11. The sixty minutes lost were added to the afternoon shift, forcing the teams to review their work programmes. While Ferrari allowed Leclerc to make up for the lost hour by opening the afternoon session, at Red Bull they released Verstappen (expected in the second half of the day) and decided to let Perez complete the day. 'Checo' completed a race simulation, almost simultaneously with that of Sainz, confirming himself in line with the Ferrari driver's performances.

A fuel system problem left Norris' McLaren MCL38 stranded

Photo by: Giorgio Piola

What appears after Sakhir's “day 2” is a substantial balance behind the ghost Verstappen, always present even when he is not there. Andrea Stella also expressed his opinion on the topic, happy with McLaren's progress but very frank in also putting Red Bull's step forward on the scale.

A verdict that did not surprise the team principal: “They started from a solid base – commented Stella referring to the 2023 single-seater – and were able to dedicate themselves to the 2024 project before their opponents”.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Overall, Lando Norris impressed well, the MCL38 confirmed that he had made important progress on the traction front (one of the objectives of the project) and the handling also seemed to improve as the work on the setup progressed. The race simulation is still missing, aborted today due to a tank problem and moved to tomorrow.

“If we manage to maintain the speed of development seen last year – underlined Stella – I believe we can catch up with Red Bull. But we also have to hope that they don't develop their car at our speed.”

An injection of confidence ahead of tomorrow, when Verstappen will return to the Red Bull. It will be an important moment to understand if the anomaly was Wednesday or if in the hands of the world champion the RB20 is really something different compared to what we saw today: an excellent car, but not capable of taking away the sleep of the opponents.