The 2024 Formula 1 world championship will start in a few weeks in Bahrain, but in Barcelona there has already been a first taste of the new championship. After the presentation in grand style on Monday in London, as anticipated the new Sauber C44 completed its first kilometers on the Spanish track with Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou at the wheel.
The Swiss single-seater thus had the burden and honor of opening the proceedings, becoming the first single-seater of the new season to take to the track on a circuit well known by the teams. Even in previous years, in fact, Sauber had always chosen Barcelona to kick off its championship and, curiously, the debut of the C43 had always taken place on February 10th on the same Montmelò track.
Sauber has in fact decided to take advantage of the first of the two filming days made available by the regulations for each team, which from this season have been extended to 200 km, in order to complete the promotional filming which will then be used by the team and sponsors during the of the year. Also noteworthy is the presence of Kick on the sides, for those world championship events in which it will not be possible to show off the main sponsor Stake on the car as in the last championship. After the usual photos and some pit-stop tests, the single-seater returned to the garage, waiting to fly to Bahrain in a few weeks.
However, for the teams the filming days also represent an opportunity to verify that all the systems are ready and functioning in view of the start of the pre-season tests, thus avoiding losing precious time on the track due to small problems that can be resolved in advance. The Swiss car curated by James Key's staff presents several technical innovations, both in terms of suspension geometry, with the transition to the pull rod at the front, but also at the center of the car, given that the airbox has been completely redesigned: it is legitimate think that the radiator was placed above the Power Unit, in order to leave more imagination to the engineers to design slimmer and more efficient sides.
As per practice, the test was held with Pirelli demo tyres, dedicated precisely to this type of event so as not to give concrete advantages to the teams regarding the compounds they will use during the season. The Swiss team shared the track with McLaren, who instead chose to run in Barcelona with the 2022 car to give Lando Norris the opportunity to get back into the rhythm in a Formula 1 car before the start of the championship.
On the subject of filming day, tomorrow it will be Haas's turn at Silverstone, which will debut its VF-24 on the British track, while on Monday the 12th it will be Racing Bulls' turn, which will open a new chapter in its history at Misano with the VCARB 01.
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