© Getty ImagesWhat We Learned From TestingReviewing the three days of testing before this weekend’s season opener
WithonlythreedaysoftestingavailabletotheTeambeforethefirstraceoftheseasonitwasallhandsondeckattheBahrainInternationalCircuit.Betweenthem,MaxVerstappenandSergioPérez,completedawhopping391lapsofthecircuitoverthosethreedays.That’scompletingtheBahrainGrandPrixalmostseventimesover!
Before Free Practice One gets underway on Thursday – yes Thursday, don’t forget that the Grand Prix is on Saturday – let’s have a recap of the three days of testing.
The rules of preseason testing state that teams were only allowed to use one car. Meaning time would be lost changing over the seats and pedal settings to suit each driver. Therefore, the Team chose that Max would have the first day of testing.
Max put in a total of 143 laps, more than any other driver on the first day. In one stint Max went longer than race distance so the strategy team were able to collect data on engine performance and tyre degradation. Max finished top of the timesheet with a time of 1:31.344, which was more than a second faster than Lando Norris’ time, who finished in P2.
Max on top of a timesheet isn’t the most surprising thing, but the fact that the Team didn’t even use a soft tyre all day could well be.
Checo had the RB20 to himself on day two, once we got going properly… Early on in the day the session was red-flagged due to a drain cover coming lose (is anyone else getting flashbacks to Vegas?)
Checo also stayed away from the soft tyres, but put in a total of 129 laps. On the C3 medium tyre Checo set his best time of 1:30.679, which placed him in P2 0.758s behind Carlos Sainz, who set that time on the softer compound of tyre.
Watching On© Getty Images
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Both Bulls had time in the RB20 on the final day. Checo took the morning stint, but unfortunately on his eighth lap he went over a drain cover, which lifted and hit the car’s floor. If we had a nickel for every time a drain cover caused a red flag last week, we’d have two nickels…which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice right?
Once we were back on track, Checo took his total up to 53 laps and finished P10 on the timesheet.
Max had the afternoon session and finished in P4 after completing 66 laps. His time was just 0.433s behind the Charles Leclerc who finished top. All the drivers above Max set their times on the soft tyre, whereas the Bull set his on the C3 medium.
Honestly? Not that much. The problem with testing is that it’s all a big secret. It’s hard for teams to tell what their rivals are up to. There’s no way to accurately know the fuel levels in the car or how dialled up the power settings are.
Saying that though, the stopwatch never lies. Only one team was in the top three on each day and that was Ferrari. The prancing horse missed out on P2 in the constructors’ championship by three points last year and look to have fixed any issues with their car. Will the strategy work this year? Time will tell.
Mercedes finished in the top three on two days of the test and they will be hungry to get back to winning ways after two years away from the top.
McLaren looked strong over the three days and Zhou Guanyu finished P3 on day three in his Kick Sauber. But possibly the dark horses of the season could be Visa Cash App RB with both Daniel Riccardo and Yuki Tsunoda finishing in the top five on every day.
The teams would’ve learnt lot over the three days, but we won’t know what each team is bringing to the table until this weekend – not long to wait now!
