The 2023 Formula 1 season has kicked off over the weekend in the sunny Arabian nation of Bahrain. The 10 teams and their 20 drivers get to properly test their cars for the first time in three months and while there hasn’t been a major regulation change, as was the case last year, there were significant improvements to many of the cars as teams learned from their mistakes last year. There are all the usual caveats that come with testing, whether it be we don’t know how much fuel the teams put into the cars, or whether the teams are sandbagging or not; however, here is a look at the 10 teams and what information we have been able to glean from testing.
The Bahrain International Circuit is a 3.35-mile track that features a mix of high-speed and slow-speed corners, as well as three long straights. There are three DRS zones, two of which appear back to back of each other and the other on the second of the three long straights. Bahrain is an island situated in the Arabian Peninsula, to the East of Saudi Arabia and above both Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. This makes it very hot and dry, making it ideal for preseason testing. The teams had eight and half hours of testing per day, which allowed them to test the aerodynamics, straight line speed, and cornering speed of the cars.
Red Bull was coming off the best season they had had since 2013, breaking Mercedes’ streak of eight consecutive constructors champions going all the way back from 2014 up until 2021. Red Bull had absolutely dominated the 2022 season, with their number one driver, Max Verstappen winning 15 out of 22 races, breaking the record for most wins by a single driver in a single season. It looks like Red Bull didn’t change their car too much from last season, why should they. The main change that occurred was the increase in the channel between the lower profile of the sides and the bottom, a subtle change but clearly designed to prevent any “porpoising” in the RB19, something that affected many teams last season. Verstappen was lighting up the time charts during testing, on the first day averaging times either in the high 1:35’s or low 1:36’s. This was significantly faster than the next two fastest cars of the day, Ferrari and Aston Martin, with redbull gapping them by seven tenths. The car was also extremely reliable during testing, allowing the team to focus on data. The car was also significantly lighter that the 2022 car, something that Verstappen had complained about throughout the 2022 season. Overall, you would be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t have Red Bull as their favourites for the upcoming season, with Sergio Perez topping the time tables. Verstappen, while only finishing 11th fastest, still had an impressive weekend and is the favourite for the upcoming race.
Ferrari, Ferrari, Ferrari. The Italian giant has had its ups and downs the past decade, with its last championship in 2007 with Kimi Raikonnen and only a couple of competitive cars sprinkled around since then. 2022 looked to be the year of the Prancing Ponies, with a 1-2 in the 2022 Bahrain race; however, after that it slowly went downhill with strategic errors and reliability issues plaguing them the next 21 races as they watched Red Bull sail away with both the drivers and constructors championship. This isn’t to say their car was rubbish, quite the contrary, the Ferrari had arguably the fastest car over a single lap, allowing Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to grab 12/22 pole positions. Ferrari this year needed to create a car to match the Red Bulls reliability and more importantly, race pace. They start the year with a new team principal, firing Mattia Binotto and hiring Frédéric Vasseur, this, they hope would solve the issues of their strategic blunders. What we have seen from testing is that the straight line speed of the car has improved, with the Monagasque Leclerc saying that he felt less drag than prior years. Ferrari are definitely still in the fight for the championship; however, I have less faith as I did last season. Both drivers finished side by side with Leclerc going fourth fastest and Sainz finishing ten hundreds behind his teammate.
Mercedes, the silver arrows have transitioned back into its 2020 all black look, however this year for a more strategic reason. When it comes to the car, the most notable thing is that almost 75% of the car is exposed carbon fibre, allowing it to be slightly lighter than the other teams, which have covered their entire car in a coat of paint. This year’s testing for Mercedes shows an improvement from last year’s abysmal show at testing, with Lewis Hamilton stating that “we have some things we need to work on. It’s still not perfect, and we are still not able to match the Red Bulls currently, or the Ferraris maybe. But it is better.” The largest improvement we have seen is the lack of any proposing, something that plagued the 2022 Mercedes car last year. It got so bad that the drivers, Hamilton and George Russel were complaining of pain in their backs after the races. The proposing affected the straight line speed of the car and after it was resolved it was assumed that they would be competing with the other cars; however, it seems the straight line speed issue has carried over. Their cornering speed is something of a mystery however, as I noticed them understeering every corner, which makes me believe that they are doing it on purpose. Mercedes have the ability to maybe win a race or two this year depending on the upgrades they bring in the coming races, but as Hamilton said, I don’t think they will challenge Red Bull or Ferrari in any serious way. Hamilton did manage to go second fastest, finishing three tenths off of Perez and Russel finished comfortably eighth.
Aston Martin, a team with its ups and downs over the past few years. Previously called Racing Point, the team decided to switch to the British Automotive legend in 2021, hoping James Bond would be able to save the dying team. 2021 was an abysmal year for the team, even with the german legend Sebastian Vettel they fell to seventh in the constructors championship; this year however, things are looking a bit more promising. Even though the final line up for the race this weekend is unclear, after Lance Stroll broke both his wrists whilst biking, the numbers they have been putting up in testing have been surprising to say the least. Aston Martin took a more forceful approach to their 2023 car, copying some of the design of the 2022 Red Bull car. What is really giving Aston Martin fans some hope is Fernando Alonso, who in testing was both very consistent in his lap times, and very fast. Currently, Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich is in the other car and is doing surprisingly well on the time sheets, finishing 12th fastest. His teammate Alonso managed to break into the top ten and go ninth fastest.
Mclaren, the other famous British racing team is doing less well than their green counterparts. The team ended with the bottom of the laps chart, completing 41 less than the next team. They were also plagued with reliability issues, during the final session they had an issue with a front winglet which cut their day short. The new team principal, Andrea Stella stated flatly that they were nowhere near capable of challenging the top four, with both the car lacking performance and the drivers seeming unconfident in the corners. They particularly struggled with under braking into corners, which has led them off the track more than once. They have already planned upgrades for the following races; however, that would mean they would be fighting from the back against their main rivals.
Alfa Romeo has made huge advances in the last two years. The Italian team has benefited from using the Ferrari engine, not including the forced stop on the final day of testing due to an engine failure. The team logged a decent amount of laps and the drivers seemed to be satisfied with the results from testing. While the car wasn’t blisteringly fast as the Red Bull was, it seemed very clean, consistent, and well balanced for both the veteran Valtteri Bottas and the rookie Zhou Guanyu, and while the Finn gave his usual Finnish response of “there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the car.” They seemed to have gotten the set up for Bahrain down which will help them for the race. They have seemingly fixed the issue of fast cornering speed that plagued them last year, which makes them a favourite for the midfield this year. Bottas finished third fastest with his teammate Zhou finishing tenth.
Alpine, the French company with the all French line up have high hopes for this year; however, they were disappointed by the time sheets, being the slowest of the 10 other teams and a whole 2.5 seconds off the Red Bull. They also failed to complete many laps, only out surpassing Mclaren in laps completed; however, team principal Otmar Szafnauer seems confident in the car, showing once again that testing does not always show the true scope of their pace. They already have an upgrade planned for this weekend and according to Alpine, it is a noticeable improvement, which has given the French drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly an optimistic look at the car. Overall Alpine should be expected to be challenging for the fourth spot in the constructors along with Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin. The team did not have a great showing with Gasly finishing 16th and Ocon finishing dead last.
Alpha Tauri had a relatively positive testing weekend, with the team completing 159 laps on the second day of testing, the most out of any team. They haven’t had much luck in 2022, a disappointing year after having a record breaking 2021. The Honda powered car was lacking in the straight line speed, a stark contrast to their sister team Red Bull, and had problems on the slow corners. Whether this is sandbagging or the car is unresponsive to the drivers is unclear; however, they did manage to set some good lap times in the end with the rookie of the team, Nyck De Vries, managing to put up impressive numbers on the second day, and while in the end he finished 13th fastest overall, he beat out both of the other rookies this season by over three tenths. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda did better, finishing sixth overall, showing why he is one of the most promising young drivers on the grid. I do not believe that Alpha Tauri will be challenging in the midfield much this year but this could all change depending on the upgrades they bring.
Haas, the American team had a surprising turn around last year. After bringing back Kevin Magnussen the team got their first pole position in Brazil. The team came out swinging last year, with Magnussen finishing 5th in the first race after both Red Bulls retired. This year, they brought back another veteran, Nico Hulkenberg who has been doing extremely well considering his three year hiatus from F1. The team principal Gunter Steiner said as much when he stated “It’s like he never left F1 at all.” While some are chalking his success to a “honeymoon” period, Haas seem to have a competitive car to some degree, now all that’s left to see is whether they have the race pace to compete. Magnussen finished seventh at the end of the weekend with his new teammate Hulkenburg finishing 15th.
William, the team of misfortune. Over the past decade William has declined year by year, with the last sliver of success occurring in 2015 when they finished third in the constructors. Other than that they and Haas had previously battled for last place, with its drivers barely getting out of Q1 and subsequently the top 15 during the race. Their testing has been uneventful to say the least, with both drivers finishing in the bottom five. Logan Sargeant, the American rookie has shown some promise given the circumstances and beat out his teammate by two tenths in the final time sheet. He finished 15th while Alex Albon finished 18th.
Overall testing was as it always has been, a breath of fresh air for all Formula 1 fans as they once again witnessed the cars wind around the track. It signals the upcoming nine months of racing and the anticipation of who will come out on top, what rivalries will form, and what upsets will occur. Will legends fall, or rookies rise, and will anyone challenge the dominant Bulls or the Prancing Ponies?
