Formula 1: who came closest to Verstappen in qualifying? | FP

By Carlo Platella
The two inaugural Grands Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia allow us to draw the very first balance of power at the start of the new season. To express a representative opinion it would be necessary to consider the times on the race pace, which are difficult to analyse, however, due to the influence of traffic variables, tire life and the actual need to push depending on the context. However, the comparison between the qualifying times allows us to appreciate which team managed to gain the most on the flying lap during the last calendar year.

Balzo Racing Bulls

By analyzing the times of the best car of each team in qualifying, a picture emerges in which Red Bull gains half a second in Bahrain on itself in 2023, reaching 8 tenths in Jeddah. Ferrari for his part, he showed progress of the order of 6 tenths in both inaugural qualifying sessions, keeping the gap on the flying lap from the world champions unchanged. However, the Scuderia from Maranello has grown above all in terms of race pace, a major area of ​​development for the 2024 single-seater.

Mercedes he managed to gain 9 tenths in qualifying in Bahrain, but in Jeddah the growth of the Silver Arrows stopped at half a second. The data summarizes the difficulties of the Brackley car on high-speed corners, which are particularly abundant in Saudi Arabia. McLaren, on the other hand, earns less in Jeddah than on the Bahraini track. The high-mileage curves were already one of the strong points of the 2023 project, where the margins for growth were therefore limited.

Overall, three cars gained more than a second in the transition from one season to the next. McLaren and Williams improved by 1.5 and 1.1 seconds respectively on the flying lap, growth partly attributable to the important updates introduced during the last championship. Even more impressive, however, are the 1.9 seconds shaved off by Racing Bulls, which consequently stands as the team that most of all shortened the gap to Red Bull in qualifying. Also noteworthy are the 8 tenths recovered by Aston Martin, which at the moment however appears more competitive on the flying lap than it is on the race pace. Finally, the situation at home is dramatic Alpine, the only team to worsen compared to last season. The numbers, however, are emphasized by the eliminations of the French cars in Q1, which therefore were not able to benefit from the evolutions of the track.

The numbers

Top speed

Also noteworthy are the top straight line speeds in qualifying. For each team it was decided to report the best reading of the second fastest car, with the aim of attenuating the influence of contrails, which were never absent. In the first two qualifications of the year, Red Bull, Haas and Williams they stand as the fastest cars on average in a straight line. However, that of the world champions remains the most efficient car overall in terms of the ratio between load and aerodynamic resistance.

Ferrari and Mercedes for the moment they are placed in the middle of the group, but with some considerations to be made. In fact, in Jeddah the Maranello team ran with an aerodynamic layout that was on average more powerful than the competition, sacrificing a few km/h on the straight. Conversely, Mercedes focused on a particularly unloaded configuration, which enhanced its straight-line performance. They are among the slowest cars on both occasions Alpine, McLaren and Sauber. If Alpine also suffers from an engine deficit, for McLaren it is mainly due to excessive aerodynamic resistance, a problem already present last season.