Winter testing – Review: Red Bull more confident than Mercedes

Three short days on the track and it's already time to take stock of pre-season testing! Red Bull has made a strong impression, while Mercedes still has some work to do.

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Rédigé par Par

3 days of pre-season testing and that’s it! The year 2021 is already exceptional for its express preparation, held in Bahrain, at the Sakhir circuit. A testing session in 24 hours straight (3 x 8 hours), with its share of performances, questions, track exits, and sand incidents, as testified by the storm on the first day, to kick off the season on a high note.

Instability for Mercedes

Attention, do not panic! We are not writing that Mercedes will be beaten in the opening race. But it’s unusual: the team is struggling with the balance of its car.

Main issue of the W12, oversteer! The new Brackley car seems temperamental when accelerating out of corners. Example with Lewis Hamilton: the seven-time champion spun out on Saturday morning in turn 14, causing a red flag. The grip doesn’t seem great with the new regulations, highlighted the driver #44 afterwards. A new regulation that reduces downforce, as we explained in this article.

On the reliability side, Toto Wolff’s men lost just over 5 hours of driving. A problem with the gearbox for Valtteri Bottas occurred early on Friday morning. The Finn then reassured himself by setting the overall fastest time on Saturday (1:30.289) in qualifying simulations.

But on Sunday, Hamilton was beaten by Verstappen! So, yes, it’s impossible to know for sure about the fuel load and engine mapping. The men from Brackley don’t seem to have the edge over the competition. Also worth noting: the Mercedes team covered the fewest laps over the three days of testing. They had topped this ranking every winter since the start of the hybrid era in 2014! Worrisome? According to Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ performance director, the team is not as fast as Red Bull!

Red Bull in shape

During this time, the challenger shone! The Red Bull RB16B was the fastest car in Sakhir, in pure speed. Max Verstappen lit up the timesheets in purple, on Friday and on Sunday. The Dutchman is the fastest driver this winter with his time of 1:28.960, achieved with soft tires (C4).

Driver Team Times Gap Laps
1 Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:28.960 (C4) Jour 3 (dimanche)
2 Tsunoda Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1:29.053 (C5) +0.093 Jour 3 (dimanche)
3 Sainz Jr. Scuderia Ferrari 1:29.611 (C4) +0.651 Jour 3 (dimanche)
4 Räikkönen Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN 1:29.766 (C5) +0.806 Jour 3 (dimanche)
5 Hamilton Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport 1:30.025 (C5) +1.065 Jour 3 (dimanche)
6 Russell Williams Racing 1:30.117 (C5) +1.157 Jour 3 (dimanche)
7 Ricciardo McLaren F1 Team 1:30.144 (C4) +1.184 Jour 3 (dimanche)
8 Perez Red Bull Racing 1:30.187 (C4) +1.227 Jour 3 (dimanche)
9 Bottas Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport 1:30.289 (C5) +1.329 Jour 2 (samedi)
10 Alonso Alpine F1 Team 1:30.318 (C4) +1.358 Jour 3 (dimanche)
11 Gasly Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1:30.413 (C5) +1.453 Jour 2 (samedi)
12 Stroll Cognizant Aston Martin Racing 1:30.460 (C5) +1.500 Jour 2 (samedi)
13 Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari 1:30.486 (C3) +1.526 Jour 3 (dimanche)
14 Norris McLaren F1 Team 1:30.586 (C4) +1.626 Jour 2 (dimanche)
15 Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN 1:30.760 (C5) +1.800 Jour 2 (dimanche)
16 Ocon Alpine F1 Team 1:31.146 (C4) +2.186 Jour 1 (vendredi)
17 Latifi Williams Racing 1:31.672 (C4) +2.712 Jour 2 (samedi)
18 Mazepin Haas F1 Team 1:31.711 (C4) +2.751 Jour 3 (dimanche)
19 Schumacher Haas F1 Team 1:32.053 (C3) +3.093 Jour 3 (dimanche)
20 Vettel Cognizant Aston Martin Racing 1:33.742 (C3) +4.782 Jour 1 (vendredi)

And for his debut in the Austrian car, Verstappen’s new teammate also ran like clockwork. Apart from the explosion of his engine cover on Saturday late afternoon, Sergio Pérez has been very studious.

Slightly inclined forward, the RB16B is entering its season better than its predecessors, remember Gasly and Albon’s accidents during the pre-season tests in 2019 and 2020. It is of course too early to draw definitive conclusions, but what happened during these tests is a positive sign for Red Bull compared to Mercedes.

Promises for McLaren and Alpine?

Good start for McLaren in Sakhir! 7th on Sunday afternoon with its newcomer Daniel Ricciardo, in the top 5 on the first two days, the British team set the fastest times in the morning on Friday and Saturday. « I don’t know if it could have gone any better », exclaimed the Australian driver.

Lando Norris still managed to get about ten installation laps on Saturday afternoon. The engineers were busy analyzing the Mercedes engine, which arrived in the Woking car this winter. But McLaren had no reliability issues. The team also made headlines with its rear diffuser, which could be one of the early-season surprises.

On the reliability side, Alpine also delivered! The new French car is slower than the McLaren but it finishes in 4th place in the reliability ranking, thanks to its huge air intake, which gives it a particular look.

For his “real” return on board an F1, Fernando Alonso felt “good” according to his own words. He even exchanged the best times with Ricciardo’s McLaren on Saturday morning. 128 laps on Saturday, 77 on Sunday, not bad for a 39-year-old driver who had a biking accident and is back in F1! Esteban Ocon also hit the tarmac in Bahrain, with 129 laps on the first day, no issues afterwards. The roadmap was followed successfully for the team powered by Renault.

Aston Martin delayed

Among the designated outsiders, however, more troubles for the new Aston Martin. Problems every day and a lost Saturday morning! The issue was gearbox problems with Sebastian Vettel‘s car. The four-time world champion also finished before everyone else on Sunday, let down this time by a boost pressure problem. All of this means less time on the track for the team that took over from Racing Point: no top 10 times among the best and a modest 9th place in the laps completed standings, ahead of Mercedes.

Ferrari, a better engine and that’s it?

Yes, Ferrari arrived in Bahrain with a better engine than last year! More power, as Mattia Binotto, the team principal of Scuderia, admitted. That’s the upside, especially since the three teams powered by Ferrari are in the top 5 for laps completed.

Team Laps parcourus
1 AlphaTauri 422 laps
2 Alfa Romeo 422 laps
3 Ferrari 404 laps
4 Alpine 396 laps
5 Haas 394 laps
6 Williams 373 laps
7 Red Bull 369 laps
8 McLaren 327 laps
9 Aston Martin 314 laps
10 Mercedes 304 laps

But for the front side, there is still work to be done on the aerodynamic side. Carlos Sainz experienced understeer: the Spaniard went into a spin aboard his new single-seater and offered us a big slide on Saturday morning.

The “little ones” are defending themselves!

AlphaTauri has released the horses! On the softest tires, rookie Yuki Tsunoda made his way to the top of the standings on Sunday afternoon, posting the second fastest time overall. Pierre Gasly has also had a good start to his season: for example, the Frenchman completed a full race simulation on Saturday.

Honorable mention for Alfa Romeo: Kimi Räikkönen is 4th in the overall standings! The Finnish veteran has racked up the kilometers, just like his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi, making the team led by Fred Vasseur the second most present on the track.

More discreet, the two rookies Haas at least had the merit of not breaking a lot of carbon. Nikita Mazepin almost crashed twice on Saturday on Hamilton and coming out of Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo. Mick Schumacher finishes behind the Russian but Michael’s son did not have the honor of finishing the private tests of the American team.

Finally, Williams can think big: George Russell and Nicholas Latifi respectively entered the top 10 on Sunday and Saturday. There is no indication this time that the car made in Grove will be the last car of the grid. Yes, there will certainly be suspense at every level for the first race weekend (as usual) in Bahrain, from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th March.

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