Everybody are going to point at Red Bull and say they've gotten better. It's an easy deflection from answering where they are in comparison. Testing is all about finding balance and set-ups. Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren will not show even some of their cards until the final practice sessions before the race.
True but on a practical work and engineering level some astute types like Stella are not afraid to show respect for efforts. The real question is how much closer all are to RedBull in comparison. Q3 will be interesting on Qualy Day!
I don't think even Q3 will matter. Ferrari have been dominating Q3 for years, and have barely anything to show for it. Everyone knows that Ferrari will be near the front after qualifying, as they have tons of data to trim their car out for a short run. Today it's all about how kind your car is on its tires, and that can only be determined after a full race weekend of long stints.
My hunch is that Ferrari and Mercedes will close their gap to Red Bull by around 60-70%ish during race conditions as things stand.
We are all speculating with Red Bull as a reference but Formula one history demonstrated many times that balance of power could change brutally. Nothing is graved into stone even for this Red Bull..
I’m staying well away from any Ferrari Choo Choo Train (especially with Max looking so comfortable yesterday). But the run by Checo vs Carlos makes no sense as they used the same tires and had the same fuel levels… Or is this just Checo being Checo…? https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-red-bull-long-run-bahrain-f1-testing-mark-hughes/ Both Red Bull and Ferrari made race simulation runs, at much the same time and running the same combination of C3, C2 and C1 respectively for the three stints. In this comparison the Ferrari looks suspiciously good, with a respective pace suggesting Carlos Sainz would have beaten Sergio Perez by... a full minute over the 57-lap distance. Stint 1 Sainz (C3) - avg. 1m28.21s, 15 laps Perez (C3) - avg. 1m28.65s, 13 laps Stint 2 Sainz (C2) - avg. 1m27.30s, 17 laps Perez (C2) - avg. 1m27.46s, 18 laps Stint 3 Sainz (C1) - avg. 1m25.38s, 17 laps Perez (C1) - avg. 1m27.13s, 21 laps In this comparison Red Bull ran a total of 52 laps, Ferrari only 49. If we take an average laptime for each of their race sims and multiply it by the race’s 57 laps, Sainz wins this ‘race’ by 60s, at an average of over 1s per lap faster. Even if we make a further adjustment for any extra weight required to do the Red Bull’s extra three laps, it still doesn’t come out at anything like one second per lap. Nor does it tally with the very small advantage the Ferrari had in one-lap pace. We cannot believe that this is an accurate representation of the Red Bull’s true pace. But that is what the day two numbers say. Let’s wait for day three to see if this apparent evidence is confirmed or refuted.
We don't know fuel levels and we don't know what modes were allowed in ANY F1 car during testing because I don't believe the teams let the drivers use the mode that allows the driver to "open-up" the engine i.e. qualifying mode. So all these times and splits and what tires are being used are a "good story" to try and hype whatever times were set. We'll know in a weeks time where the pecking order is with regards to this specific track during qualifying and then followed by race pace and tire degradation.
Both Checo and Carlos did full race sims, no stopping for fuel, so we know the fuel levels were similar. They were both relatively slow in the speed traps, so we can estimate they are both using low PU modes.
That's a possibility on both fronts that you mentioned.....other than that it's just inferencing. Right now, there's ALOT of tifosi jumping on the hype train because of todays results regarding Sainz's time and Checo's time and the SF-24 is THE car. Fine, so be it. I'm not jumping on the hype train because most of us have seen this time and time again.
I'll add to this and saying we also don't know what setup teams are testing out either. Bahrain is a borderline low downforce track. One might say it's a middle downforce track. If a team is testing out a high downforce setup that would one never actually run during race conditions in Bahrain, they will seem much slower than they actually are. Same goes for if the teams are using setting more appropriate for Silverstone or Monza. The purpose is to test these settings on the car, not actually race them. I'd guess both Ferrari and Mercedes are doing just that, and are not fully trimmed out for what they'll use during the race.
And @Chicko I will say this, tire degradation on the SF-24 looks adequate at the moment regarding the C2 and C3 tire BUT this track hasn't been resurfaced in a very long time so maybe tire degradation is track specific on the SF-24....time will tell at other venues.
What we know from today's race sim times... Carlos's pace was on average 1.46s faster than the SF23 in the race last year. He was also 0.6s faster per lap than Max was in race last year.
So they are all still trying find out if the months on computers and simulaters and wind tunnels actually gave them a good car. Even so-called upgrades for the first weekend will be just more guessing and hoping. And the budget cap will prevent them for doing serious revisions if the packages don't work. Gone are the days when teams actually competed and made major changes to all aspects of the car throughout the season. That was racing.
They will bring new parts to the cars at the majority of races, like always. McLaren last year brought huge upgrades which moved them from the back of the pack to near the front, so big packages which bring real changes are possible within the cap.
It's pathetic to even call that testing compared to the quality of the cars that hit the track at the first race when there was open testing.
Autosport - The pain in Bahrain is caused mainly by the drain. #F1Testing Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login Turn 11 deja vu Image Unavailable, Please Login Chris Medland F1 journalist in Bahrain - BBC F1 Copyright: Chris Medland The scene at Turn 11, where there’s a sense of deja vu because a drain cover has come loose for the second consecutive day. This time it’s about 20 metres further along the track compared to yesterday, but it’s the exact same type of cover that has come up. Yesterday was frustrating for the teams, who lost 40 minutes of running. But a repeat issue will really start to test their patience with just three days of testing in total, and now two of them impacted by the condition of the track. The FIA has been to inspect the area as repair work goes on, and will be trying to work out whether any changes to the schedule can be made later today to allow them to make up for the lost track time.
Estimated restart time 08:45 GMT Race control has given an estimated restart time of 08:45 GMT (11:45 local time). It also looks like there will not be a lunch break, so the track will remain open until 16:00 GMT (7pm local).
