2024 Formula 1 car pre-season tests

[Everso Biggyballies]

Bottom post of the previous page:

I havent been following the Session on TV toda as closely (the novelty wore off pretty quick) but just checked on progress in and we have a red flag aat the moment..... a bit of drain has become detached so it is all on hold while the track in inspected and repaired. Leclerc ran it over in the Ferrari and although the car was damaged it seems that the floor or at least a floor is now back on the Ferrari. I think Lewis ran over some debris as well.

Times are a little slower today.... Leclerc is fastest but some 0.4 off of Max's afternoon time yesterday and it seems the cars are all running different programmes and collecting data doing longer runs etc. Lap counts dont seem as high as yesterday.

Basically times seem to be unimportant I think a few cars have been trying alternative components and parts for comparison. A number of cars, including the Williams of Sargeant have spent quit a lot of time in the garage. Whether that is reliability reasons or simply teams experimenting and evaluating alternative set ups and making changes I dont know.

Having said that with just over an hour left of the morning session here are the best times on the board and laps completed.

POS DRIVERGAP TYRE LAPS
1 Charles LECLERC1:31.750 36
2 Oscar PIASTRI+0.578 35
3 Logan SARGEANT+0.828 30
4 Sergio PEREZ+1.129 20
5 Fernando ALONSO+1.303 31
6 Lewis HAMILTON+1.475 39
7 Guanyu ZHOU +1.965 38
8 Pierre GASLY+2.054 33
9 Nico HULKENBERG+5.759 31
10 Yuki TSUNODA+6.324 40





UPDATE>. The morning session has been abandoned as repairs on the track continue.

Teams will take an early lunch and an extended afternoon session will be held

[Aty]

Ferrari is still awaiting for LV to process payment for damages sustained to their car (Sainz). One would think that FiA has learned their lesson, but not so. This time Leclerc.

[XcraigX]

Ferrari is still awaiting for LV to process payment for damages sustained to their car (Sainz).

Have they tried using CashApp? I hear there is a machine located conveniently in one of the pit garages.

[Everso Biggyballies]

OK the session resumed and although the afternoon some of the morning drivers are still continuing. The morning session was shortened, an early lunch breach happening and the afternoon session extended due to the required track repairs. repairs.

Basically the session is now showing just over 4hrs 30 minutes left of what was planned as a 4 hour afternoon session. Perez is still in the Red Bull but I guess for maybe another half an hour.

Going back to the track drain incident, as a result Leclerc did require a floor change, that completed over that lunch period. Somewhat fortunate that with the cars being so new, that they have a spare floor ready in the garage. Of course it might be a different specification.

@Aty Re the damage to Leclercs car, unlike Vegas when Sainz had his car destroyed by a drain on the track, this particular drain that Leclerc hit was the other side of the kerbs so in effect off the track. Moral of the story stay on the track and dont exceed track limits. Off track you dont know what you might find.

[Aty]

@Aty Re the damage to Leclercs car, unlike Vegas when Sainz had his car destroyed by a drain on the track, this particular drain that Leclerc hit was the other side of the kerbs so in effect off the track. Moral of the story stay on the track and dont exceed track limits. Off track you dont know what you might find.

Well, one of the major differences between both (Ferrari v. drain) incidents is, that in first case reimbursement for damages is claimable, whereas in second case (probably) is not. In my mind it is still sloppy work on part of FiA. Drivers could leave a track for any reason out of their control, and destroying a car in the process can be avoided with better technical and inspection protocols.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Oh my.... what did Lewis have for lunch? He has suddenly appeared on the timesheets in 2nd place, 0.5 off Leclerc's fastest time today

Sergio isstill out running around in the Red Bull. I suspect it might be because he is doing a long run on hard tyres.... not enough glory for Max in that who will no doubt go out and do the far more exciting and glamorous qualifying sims. Regardles of it being on short runs, qualy sims or long runs, soft tyres and hard tyres, the Red Bull, with both drivers just looks so very planted and totally controlled. No nasty traits, lock ups or anything visually disturbing.

I can only imagine what the other teams must be thinking.

McLaren have swapped Piastri who was driving this morning, for Lando. Piastri still has the 3rd best time today, set earlier this morning.
Bottas is now in the Sauber having taken over from Joe. Carlos has taken over from Leclerc also, as has Stroll replaced Fernando.

Just update the times for all 17 that have had laps today so far..... It is all a bit pointless with the times though because of the different progrmmes each driver is on. For instance Tsunoda in the mobile ATM Visa car has done 40 laps with a fastest lap 4 seconds slower that Danny Ric in the same car has since managed in half the laps.

That having been said here are the (somewhat irrelevant( times today.


POS DRIVERGAP TYRE LAPS
1 Charles LECLERC1:31.750 54
2 Lewis HAMILTON+0.523 65
3 Oscar PIASTRI+0.578 35
4 Lance STROLL+0.669 14
5 Logan SARGEANT+0.828 48
6 Sergio PEREZ+1.129 68
7 Fernando ALONSO+1.303 31
8 Carlos SAINZ+1.553 6
9 GuanyuZHOU+1.965 38
10 Pierre GASLY+2.054 33
11 Daniel RICCIARDO+2.276 22
12 Valtteri BOTTAS+3.723 23
13 Kevin MAGNUSSEN+4.861 27
14 Esteban OCON+5.353 26
15 Lando NORRIS+5.404 10
16 Nico HULKENBERG+5.759 31
17 Yuki TSUNODA+6.324 40

[Everso Biggyballies]

Carlos has also obviously had something fiery for lunch as in his less than ten laps he has jumped to 2nd fastest just a tenth shy of his teamate.

[Everso Biggyballies]

As yesterdaythe times are coming down as the days continues to late afternoon. Sainz has now become the fastest driver today with a 1:32.397, a time just a few hundredths of Max's best time yesterday. Lando has also climbed to 2nd, a couple of tenths behind Carlos and a tenth faster than Leclers's morning time.

Ooh just as I was typing that Carlos bolted on a set of C4 softs (not the softest soft). He simply flew round and managed the fastest lap of the week by a margin.... a 1:30.686. That would have made him the fast in Q2 and good for 7th on the grid in last years GP.

Under 3 hours left and Max hasnt got into the car yet. Sergio had been in the pits for a while but has now emerged on an out lap with a new set of mediums on.. Maybe the Red Bull plan has changed and Sergio will now do the whole day today.

I spoke too soon Sergio is crawling at almost walking pace, slow enough for the white flags to fly. Anyway he is almost back to pit lane now so no doubt those with spanners will fix it. Maybe just a Conrtrol Alt Delete fix. The dash looked completely blank an it sounded rough,

[Everso Biggyballies]

Quick fix for Sergio and he is back on track within minutes.

Carlos goes quicker again with a 1:30.424. Just to remind you this is on a C4 tyre which is one compound softer than the soft tyre they will be using come the GP.

Next time round is a triple purple and Carlos knocks half a second off his best to go into the 29s.... a 1:29.921, within a couple of tenths of last year's pole lap.

Thats 1.3 quicker than anyone else today and over 1.4 faster than Max's benchmark yesterday.! The car looked great, no drama, went exactly where pointed.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Well I fell asleep in front of the TV so hence no comments at the end of the session from me. Had time now to catch up on stuff so some comments.

F1 testing results: Carlos Sainz tops second day in Bahrain

Carlos Sainz led the second day of Formula 1 2024 testing in Bahrain for Ferrari, beating the opposition by 0.758s.

Sergio did end up staying in the car the whole. day and ended up doing some quick runs at the end. Only good for second behind the afternoon pacesetter Carlos Sainz. Lewis snuck in 3rd so Mercedes have found some pace. Lando was up there or abouts all afternoon and Danny Ric crept in to the top 5 of the day in the RB Visa Cash machine whotsit.

Those five all set their times in the afternoon and Leclerc was 6th courtesy of his morning time.

The first 4 were all under Max's best from Day 1, Sainz was in a class of his own though and ended up 0.7 clear at the top and nearly 1.5 up on Max 's time on Day 1. Before we all get excited and say Ferrari have a barnstormer car, we have a serious battle on our hands, I will just repeat that Carlos used the C4 soft tyre to set his quick times. They only get to use the slightly harder C3 in race weekends at Bahrain so bear that in mind comparing this years tests to last years qualifying times. Also very few of the testing front runners used the C4, and used the more relevant C3. FWIW Danny Ric also used the C4 to set his time..

Having said that it is clear this years cars are certainly faster than last years by at least a second, probably more given its early days.... it will be interesting to see how much quicker they go in day 3 of the test. Also no doubt that Ferrari at this stage seem to have ironed out a lot of last years problems..... when Sainz did his quick times the car looked very stable and went where it was pointed without dramas.

In terms of laps done Sergio did most from the drivers side, despite a couple of technical glitches costing his track time. He did some long runs in the afternoon was was also clearly doing set up work.... popping into the garage for some frantic spanner twiddling then back out. I guess that is the prime function of tsting, along with data. gathering.

Of the three drivers who were in the cockpit all day, Perez managed 129, Hamilton 123 and Sargeant 117 for starters. Good to see no broken Willies and they had a reasonable day

So Ferrari and Red Bull look the most sorted, I believe despite what the clocks say, that Red Bull are still the fastes. Day 3 later on will be interesting, particularly if we get the battle for bragging rights as to the fastest team in testing this year.

Comments from Ferrari is that the running on track is consistent with their simulator work, so the computers are talking the same language as the cars. Always a good sign, and we have seen many (especially Ferrari) find what the simulator said did not transpond to what the track work showed. They seem to have gone some of the way to overcoming last years problems of a car that was blisteringly quick over one lap but couldnt keep the tyres from degrading too fast.

Mercedes certainly have a better car than last year and both drivers seem to confirm those thoughts. It looked less lairy and more settled. Lewis did some race sim data collection and long stint work before trying to one lap pace. They seem in a happier place.

The RB Cash thing got in plenty of laps again today....244 laps over both days. However its difficult to judge how much better than the end of last year they are going given a lot of their developments are refinements of their late 2023 push of developing. My understanding is they are a bit out of synch with others, and they have updates already in the works for very early in the season.

Its very hard to ignore Red Bull's pace and the fact they have this new concept sidepod tech which will only improve with fine tuning.


Here are the times for the 17 guys that ran in day 2.

2024 Bahrain F1 test, Day 2 results:
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps Tyres
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:29.921 84 C4
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 1:30.679 +0.758s 129 C3
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.066 +1.145s 123 C3
4 Lando Norris Mclaren 1:31.256 +1.335s 52 C3
5 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:31.361 +1.440s 88 C4
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.750 +1.829s 54 C3
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:32.029 +2.108s 96 C3
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:32.061 +2.140s 78 C3
9 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:32.227 +2.306s 97 C3
10 Oscar Piastri Mclaren 1:32.328 +2.407s 35 C3
11 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:32.578 +2.657s 117 C3
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:33.053 +3.132s 31 C3
13 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:33.715 +3.794s 38 C3
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:33.804 +3.883s 33 C3
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:36.611 +6.690s 93 C3
16 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:37.509 +7.588s 31 C3
17 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:38.074 +8.153s 40 C3

[erwin greven]

Day 3 morning session started. After 30 there is a red flag again. For the same reason as an earlier red flag: loose drain cover.

[Aty]

Day 3 morning session started. After 30 there is a red flag again. For the same reason as an earlier red flag: loose drain cover.

Sergio, wide.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Day 3 morning session started. After 30 there is a red flag again. For the same reason as an earlier red flag: loose drain cover.

And we let these people build structures hundreds of metres high into the sky, and we willingly pay good money to stay in them. They can't even makes things safe at ground level!

[erwin greven]

Day 3 morning session started. After 30 there is a red flag again. For the same reason as an earlier red flag: loose drain cover.

And we let these people build structures hundreds of metres high into the sky, and we willingly pay good money to stay in them. They can't even makes things safe at ground level!

Yep. Just like in Baku, Las Vegas, Shanghai...

[Everso Biggyballies]

Actually I havent been following testing today (tonight for me) Got people for dinner.... I have no idea whats happening and thats fine. I might get to watch the last hour or so.

[MonteCristo]

FASTEST TEST TIMES PER DRIVER (ALL 3 DAYS)
Driver Team Time Day Tyre
Sainz Ferrari 1m29.921s Thursday C4
Leclerc Ferrari 1m30.322s Friday C4
Russell Mercedes 1m30.368s Friday C4
Zhou Sauber 1m30.647s Friday C4
Perez Red Bull 1m30.679s Thursday C3
Verstappen Red Bull 1m30.755s Friday C3
Tsunoda RB 1m30.775s Friday C4
Albon Williams 1m30.984s Friday C4
Piastri McLaren 1m31.03s Friday C3
Hamilton Mercedes 1m31.066s Thursday C3
Alonso Aston Martin 1m31.159s Friday C3
Norris McLaren 1m31.256s Thursday C3
Ricciardo RB 1m31.361s Thursday C4
Hulkenberg Haas 1m31.686s Friday C3
Stroll Aston Martin 1m32.029s Thursday C3
Ocon Alpine 1m32.061s Thursday C3
Gasly Alpine 1m32.149s Friday C3
Bottas Sauber 1m32.227s Thursday C3
Sargeant Williams 1m32.578s Thursday C4
Magnussen Haas 1m33.053s Friday C3

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/full ... d-mileage/

Ferrari seem fast. But are they really, and can they last 90 minutes without screwing things up?