Welcome Drivers!

We are now two-thirds of the way through testing and things are running pretty smooth for all teams. The first day there was Aston Martin’s red flag incident and McLaren’s brake issues flaring up again.

The second day had Mercedes’ driver George Russell stopping on track bringing out a red flag while Max Verstappen had an oil leak that limited his lap count. Other than that it has been relatively smooth sailing for all of the teams during testing.

This post will be covering Day 2 of F1 testing in Bahrain. If you missed our Day 1 post, you can use the link below and read about it!

As we noted in the last post, pre-season performance is in no way indicative of where teams will stack up. There are too many variables to take into account. Some teams are gathering aero day while others are trying out different car setups. Just because someone is fast in testing does not mean they will be fast come the first race.

There are still many things that we can look at. Reliability is always important and we have see a few more issues creep up on some teams. Team bosses are also starting to make comments on the F1 pecking order and it is interesting to hear their takes on where the chips will fall.

Enough of the chit chat lets dive into our thoughts on Day 2 of F1 testing in Bahrain!

Key Takeaways - Testing Day 2

McLaren Headaches Ahead

Zak Brown came out with some somber comments on the MCL60’s development. He said that they were unable to hit some goals they had set for development. He continued by saying they have developments coming early in the season and they are encouraged by what they see down the road.

These aren’t the type of comments McLaren fans would like to see. The team had set lofty goals of reclaiming P4 in the constructors championship but they do not seem like they are on the path to do that. It seems like they don’t expect to be competitive with the top of the midfield in the beginning of the season.

If you are Lando Norris, this news has to be pretty frustrating to hear. He has remained steadfast in his commitment to McLaren but they have been unable to take the next step while he has been there. Based on Zak Brown’s comments today it looks like it may take even more time to put out a car that can compete for championships.

Red Bull Pushing Hard

After running 157 laps on the first day of testing, Red Bull hit the ground running on Day 2. This time it was Sergio “Checo” Perez in the RB19 for the morning session. He was able to contribute 76 laps in the morning session finishing P14.

Checo’s laps primarily consisted of high fuel long runs similar to Max’s morning session yesterday which is why his lap times were not further up on the time tables. He is going to be the only driver to suit up for Red Bull on the final day of practice and we expect him to get in some performance laps at some point during the day.

Max Verstappen took the wheel for the afternoon session but was limited to only 47 laps as his RB19 suffered an oil leak. This was the first blemish we have seen from Red Bull after two very convincing days of testing. They seem like they have picked up right where they left off in 2022.

Mercedes Playing Catch Up

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff came out and said that they are happy with the W14’s progress when compared to the W13 last year. They have a much better understanding of this year’s car and they have gotten rid of the bouncing.

He went on to say that while the car is better, they do not think they will be at the level of Red Bull or Ferrari to start the season. Mercedes has a development plan to bring a few upgrades early in the season to hopefully become more competitive.

There have also been rumors of Mercedes working on a “Plan B” side pod concept if their development does not yield the wanted results. This tells us that Mercedes doesn’t seem overly confident in their current development path.

Adding more doubt to the W14, Mercedes had a hydraulic failure in the afternoon causing the session to be red flagged. It was also rumored that they lost a lot of downforce on the front axel of the car. Not a good sign for Mercedes fans.

There were a lot of questions surrounding the new and improved W14 but from what we have seen so far it seems like Mercedes will be playing from behind again in 2023.

Where They Stand - Day 2

We have said it already but feel the need to keep highlighting it, testing lap times ARE NOT reflective of what the race lap times will be. None the less we can take a look at the top of the standings in day 2 of testing.

The shocker today was Zhou Guanyu finished P1 for the day. On the surface this is very surprising but Zhou set this time much later in the day when the track had cooled down and became much more grippy. Let’s not let this fact take away from Zhou’s solid day with 132 laps under his belt and the top time. He will be looking to carry momentum into the season.

Max Verstappen finished P2 only .04s behind Zhou as he overcame an oil leak in his car to finish the day out strong. Similar to the first day, Fernando Alonso was right behind Verstappen finishing P3 on the day with another strong lap time for the Aston Martin driver.

Nyck de Vries picked up the pace for AlphaTauri finishing P4 after neither driver cracked the top 10 on day 1. Following him was the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg in a much improved 2nd day of testing. Ferrari was near the top of the tables again with Sainz in P6 and his teammate Leclerc in P8. They will likely be Red Bulls rival to start the year.

Williams’ driver Logan Sargeant had another impressive performance for the rookie finishing P7 on the day and was the only driver to run for Williams. Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly round out the top ten in a preview of the McLaren vs Alpine battle we will likely see throughout the season.

Final Thoughts - Day 2

It is Red Bull and Ferrari that stand apart from the rest after two days of testing. Both teams have been putting together consistent lap times and will be the contenders to start the year.

It has also come to our attention that Ferrari may be holding back on their performance. The graph below, curtesy of @F1DataAnalysis, shows the percentage of the lap spent at maximum throttle. This is from the first day of testing but shows that Ferrari is not pushing flat out.

Alpine has not impressed us with what we have seen so far. They have been flying under the radar during testing but in our opinion we think Aston Martin may have caught them. Will be very interesting to see if Aston Martin can climb to the top of the midfield with McLaren and Alpine both looking less than impressive.

Another team that has been under the radar is Alfa Romeo. We liked what we saw from Zhou today and with Bottas being the more experienced driver they do have the potential to be more competitive in the midfield.

Overall, the top 3 last year look to be the same this year and the midfield will have a lot more competition among the teams. Points will be at a premium with the top 6 spots likely always being filled by the top teams. Maybe we will see a midfield team pull off a shocker and win a race this year, something that did not happen last season.

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We will be back tomorrow giving a run-down of the final day of testing.

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