The Jeddah track immediately shows very different characteristics and particularities from what was seen at Sakhir, but the first free practice session brings the top 3 back in the same order of arrival as the first Grand Prix of the season. The data from the first session show first confirmations and some interesting feedback.
Red Bull strangely aggressive with the engine
The first thing that strikes you is the aggressiveness of the two Red Bull drivers in their constant search for maximum performance right from the first lap, despite different climatic conditions between qualifying and the race. All this supported by a level of power delivered by the Power Unit clearly already much more stringent than all the other competitors. In one session, the RB19 showed many characteristics that had already been “diagnosed” at the first round of the season, for better or for worse. In fact, Newey’s car showed an excellent level of downforce added to very high top speeds, even the highest in the session with Perez recording 337 km/h and Verstappen at 336.
The qualities of the chassis of the Milton Keynes car appear brilliant from the data, but in handling the drivers showed more than one difficulty, with a front end that struggles to turn corners, especially when compared to a rear end that always seems anchored to the asphalt both for lateral grip and traction performance. The impression is that Verstappen and Perez were already looking for the references for qualifying, evidently considered particularly important, and to have both mechanical and aerodynamic answers as truthful as possible, they have already partially focused on the Power Unit. Certainly a particular job, but which we have also seen done other times in the past, also a sign of a “Honda” reliability that perhaps fears the fatigue of the kilometers more than the stress of high revs.
Aston Martin still with cargo but suffers in the stretch
In Jeddah we also found Fernando Alonso with the third fastest time, with an AMR23 that once again highlighted both his best quality, the vertical load, and his worst, inefficiency on the straight.
In fact, we see how Stroll’s team car suffers particularly in the sprints, especially in the last sector, where the Asturian pays no less than 12 km/h top speed. The impression is that the Mercedes Power Unit is used with a lot of low-end torque to guarantee the traction phases, but you arrive a bit “in apnea” at the last stretch of the track, given the single-seater’s level of resistance to progress. However, the performance appeared good, and the two Astons seem, for now, capable of showing very similar performances to what was seen in the opening round.
Ferrari, good driveability and concentration on race pace
As far as the Maranello team is concerned, we have seen a particular work programme. The new front wing was tested, which appeared to behave very well, as well as the single-pilon and more loaded rear wing which seemed to give the car the right overall level of downforce. The result was a well balanced SF-23 and, for now, much more “drivable” than the Sakhir. On the other hand, it seems that on the Power Unit front in Maranello they have been particularly conservative, with the power curve almost dying out on the red in the long stretches. Excellent speed in the first sector also in corners, where a lot of mechanics and a good level of load are needed, a little more suffering in the very fast direction changes of the second half of the track, still to be understood if due to a conservative attitude (as it seems) or for objective difficulties (not even reported by radio). The long run test carried out by the two Ferrari drivers was particularly positive, with times that were not only constant, but rapidly improving, even on the soft tyre, so with degradation for now that seems to be under control. We’ll see if the second session, in cooler conditions and similar to qualifying and the race, will confirm these very first impressions.
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