After Barcelona, where the so-called “shakedown” took place, the paddock moved to the Bahrain desert for three days of pre-season testing.
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| Photo: Glenn Dunbar |
With the new regulations, the big question is who will emerge as the favourite and set the pace. After Barcelona, Mercedes were seen as the front-runners; after Bahrain, it looks like it could be Red Bull. However, we also have to take mind games into account—everyone is trying to divert media attention toward their rivals. This situation was summed up perfectly by Alpine Executive Director Steve Nielsen:
“If you had asked me after Barcelona, I would have said Mercedes were absolutely on top. If you asked me on Wednesday, I would have said Red Bull. If you asked me on Thursday, I would have said Ferrari—so tonight the answer might be different again,” he told Sky Sports.
Looking at the bigger picture, Mercedes clearly appear to be among the strongest teams so far. They did struggle with certain technical issues that cost them track time, but despite that, they should be at the sharp end of the grid. Red Bull are expected to be in a similar position. Their new power unit, developed jointly with Ford, looks very promising and, according to voices from the paddock, could even be stronger than Mercedes.
George Russell even mentioned that Red Bull are around half a second quicker on the straights. Verstappen responded to this himself:
“They are obviously trying to shift the focus to us because we did so many laps on Wednesday. But you have to look at it from both sides. Just wait until Melbourne and see how fast they suddenly go on all the straights.”
Ferrari also look very solid, especially in long runs, and we must not forget the reigning world champions McLaren, who appear to be in good shape as well.
The biggest disappointment so far is clearly Aston Martin. They arrived late to Barcelona and then struggled with technical problems, and things were not much better in Bahrain. Aerodynamically, the car looks strong, but the power unit—supplied by Honda—appears to be a major weakness and reportedly has significant issues. This was confirmed by Lance Stroll:
“Right now, we look like we're four seconds off the top team, four and a half seconds. Impossible to know what fuel loads and everything people are running. But, yeah, now we need to try and find four seconds of performance.”
Initial opinions on the new regulations are also starting to emerge, and so far they have been rather negative from the drivers’ side. The biggest “pessimist” is Max Verstappen:
“To drive, they are not a lot of fun, to be honest. I would say the right word is management. It's not very Formula 1-like. It feels a bit more like Formula E on steroids. But the rules are the same for everyone, so you have to deal with that.
“As a pure driver, I enjoy driving flat out and at the moment you cannot drive like that. There's a lot going on. A lot of what you do as a driver, in terms of inputs, has a massive effect on the energy side of things. For me, that's just not Formula 1. Maybe it's then better to drive Formula E, right? Because that's all about energy, efficiency and management.”
Another driver who is unsure about the new regulations is Lewis Hamilton, who pointed out their complexity: “None of the fans will understand it, I think.
“It’s so complex, it’s ridiculously complex. I had seven meetings one day and they take us through it.
“I don’t know, it’s like we need a degree to fully understand it all.”
Of course, it is still far too early to draw firm conclusions. We also have to consider that another three-day test awaits us next week, again in Bahrain, and the development curve is likely to remain very steep.
LAPS COMPLETED BY TEAMS:
