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Preseason testing day two is complete, and a new team is at the top of the timesheets: Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc put together the fastest time during the morning session, which was shortened after he ran over a drain cover at Turn 11 and damaged the floor of SF-24. Debris was knocked onto the track, which he and Lewis Hamilton ran over before the session was red-flagged. Ferrari swapped out the floor before Carlos Sainz went out for the afternoon session, setting a new overall fastest lap for the test to end day two fastest ahead of Sergio Pérez in the Red Bull.
But that comes with all the usual caveats of how this is ‘just’ testing, and each team is conducting their own programs to understand their new cars better. The cars are running on various tires and with different fuel loads, for starters, but the focus started shifting more towards long runs on Thursday afternoon.
Here are four main takeaways from day two of testing, both on and off the track.
Ferrari’s strong pace can’t draw attention from Red Bull
Ferrari should be pleased with how its second day of testing unfolded. Sainz’s fastest lap time of 1:29.921s was 1.2 seconds faster than Max Verstappen’s ominous benchmark from Thursday, and the initial feedback about the Ferrari SF-24 car has mainly been positive.
Yet there’s no getting away from the belief that Red Bull remains the obvious team to beat in Bahrain, even with minor setbacks for the defending champion team on day two.
Pérez’s first time driving the RB20 in testing didn’t last long before he returned to the pits in the morning due to a small brake fire. He also lost drive during the afternoon session while entering the final sector, causing him to slowly crawl back to the pits, where Red Bull quickly rectified the issue.
These minor issues are inevitable during testing, meaning there was no reason for Red Bull to panic, particularly given the underlying pace of the car. Pérez put in a couple of quick laps in the final hour to finish the day second, seven-tenths of a second off Sainz’s benchmark. Sainz set his time on the softer, quicker C4 tire while Pérez was on the C3 compound.
Fuel loads and run plans mean it’s always tricky to deduce what the times really mean. But even Sainz said that while he had “no idea” how everyone compared, “I just can tell the Red Bull looks very quick.”
Mercedes’ George Russell agreed with Sainz’s assessment. “(Red Bull) started these new regulations on the front foot, they came here and have been solid ever since,” he said. “They’ve been the favorites, they’re a step ahead of everybody else here in Bahrain.”
Much of that was informed by Verstappen’s impressive showing straight out of the box on Wednesday when the radically redesigned RB20 emerged on track for all to see in full for the first time. Times always tumble as testing wears on, and day three will be a more valid test, yet few would want to bet against Red Bull after another impressive day of running. Pérez racked up 129 laps, more than any other driver.
Team principal Christian Horner naturally downplayed its perceived edge during the lunchtime press conference, saying it was “difficult to draw too many conclusions from times” without knowing fuel loads and engine mode. It’s not stopped anyone else from doing so.
“There’s one car that seems to have found a big step,” said McLaren team principal Andrea Stella. “Unfortunately, it’s the car that was already the quickest last year.”
GO DEEPER
F1 preseason testing: How much can we read into Verstappen’s Day 1 dominance?
Loose drain cover costs teams precious time
Teams enter preseason testing with precise run plans and schedules to maximize their precious time on the track, given they have just three days to prepare for the new season.
It meant the first red flag of testing, caused by a loose drain cover two hours into the opening session, was a frustrating interruption at a time when teams were already working on tight schedules.
The drain cover came up outside Turn 11 after Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton ran over the curbs, taking a wide line into the corner. Ferrari changed the floor on Leclerc’s car after sustaining damage, even if he didn’t feel that big a hit in the cockpit.
“There was a bit of a hole in the floor, which we had to change,” Leclerc said. “But apart from that, no, I had no warning. I saw something, but honestly, it was so thin that I thought it was a plastic thing.”
Track officials inspected the part of the track where the drain cover was missing before canceling the remainder of the morning session. The start of the afternoon session was brought forward to 2 p.m., adding an extra hour to try and make up for the 1h40m of lost running, but it was nevertheless an annoying setback.
The first red flag of testing, caused by a loose drain cover two hours into the opening session, was a frustrating interruption at a time when teams were already working on tight schedules. (Ayman Yaqoob/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Fernando Alonso has been particularly vocal about the issue of not getting enough time to prepare for new seasons, with only three days of testing for each team, giving each driver one-and-a-half days to get up to speed. He brought it up of his own accord at the car launch and again on Thursday following the red flag.
“It’s difficult to understand how we can have one-and-a-half days per driver, which is going to be one-and-a-quarter now after this morning, to prepare for a world championship,” Alonso said. “It’s like in tennis – if you change the racket and the balls and everything before a tournament or a season, and you let the players test all the equipment one day before a grand slam.
“We are talking about the most sophisticated sport, 200 million per team a year or something like that; it seems ridiculous.”
Sat alongside Alonso, Russell quipped: “Our budget is $135 million,” referring to the cost cap.
“Yeah, but you have a very expensive driver,” Alonso replied. “It’s more than $200 (million) for Mercedes, probably, with your teammate.” Driver salaries (including that of Lewis Hamilton, one of F1’s best-paid drivers)- are outside the budget cap.
More seriously, on testing, Russell said one-and-a-half days was the “absolute minimum” for drivers to prepare for a new season if there were no interruptions. “You look at what happened this morning, the drivers that lost out have a big disadvantage,” Russell said. “I’d like to see probably an extra day of testing or a second car. I think one-and-a-half each is too little.”
The setback did prompt a slight change in some run plans, such as Pérez getting the whole day in the Red Bull instead of splitting it with Verstappen, but for the most part, most teams weren’t too restricted.
Horner investigation continues to loom over testing
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner sat through his first official F1 press conference on Thursday, and as expected, he was asked about the ongoing investigation.
It was not the race team that launched the probe, but rather the parent company, and no official news has been released since the process began. An all-day hearing was held on Feb. 9 in London, but a resolution has yet to be announced. It appears to be “business as usual” at Red Bull Racing, with Horner at the helm and working trackside while waiting for the release of the findings.
But that may raise a few eyebrows, considering Horner is accused of inappropriate behavior. One media member asked, “How can people take this investigation seriously when you’ve not been asked to step aside while it’s in process?” Horner declined to comment.
“As you’re well aware, there’s a process going on which I form part of, and as I form part of that process, I’m afraid I cannot comment on it.”
That did not stop the questions, though. Someone asked a follow-up: Is it still a “distraction,” and does Horner know anything about the investigation’s timeline? F1 said in its statement, “We hope that the matter will be clarified at the earliest opportunity after a fair and thorough process.” Horner, again, declined to comment.
“Look, I’m dreadfully sorry, but I really can’t comment on the process or the timescale,” Horner said. “I think obviously everybody would like a conclusion as soon as possible, but I’m really not at liberty to comment about the process.”
This does not come as a total surprise. Even during the team’s season launch, Horner declined to comment on the investigation’s details but did deny the allegations again.
Though Horner can’t comment on the investigation, it is a topic being discussed. Mercedes’ Toto Wolff commented on the matter during Wednesday’s press conference, and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown was asked about it on Thursday. To summarize, Brown said the investigation should be “handled in a transparent way in which there’s no doubt, no doubt whatsoever that it’s been handled appropriately, and whatever the conclusion is that that conclusion is handled in an appropriate, transparent manner.”
Christian Horner faced more questions about Red Bull’s investigation into allegations against him on Day 2 of testing. (Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)
Is there an issue with Red Bull owning two teams?
With Horner and RB team boss Laurent Mekies in the same press conference session, it’s safe to assume that questions about the teams’ relationship would arise.
Brown argued in his Dec. 2023 letter recapping the year that “Formula 1 should be true to its brand, and every team – except Power Units – should be totally independent of each other.” He reiterated his concerns about Red Bull owning two teams during his team’s season launch, and during Thursday’s press conference, Brown was asked, “Why so vocal now?”
“I think the sport, as we’re now in the budget cap era, have moved on to where we’re trying to have ten independent teams from a sporting, from a political, from a technical point of view,” Brown said. “And so, simply, I think they’re very much playing by the rules. I have an issue with the rules and believe the FIA needs to address this.”
The budget cap was intended to create a level playing field for the teams, but according to McLaren Racing’s CEO, “the way the rules are currently written, (they) aren’t the same for everyone. And you have pockets of teams also, the whole A/B team situation, that doesn’t have that level playing field.”
The regulations dictate what parts can be shared between teams, such as the gearbox (which Williams and Aston Martin use from Mercedes), and there are reasons why this is allowed, Mekies said. One was to help teams that wanted more sustainable business models. While the sport is the most financially stable it’s been, Mekies noted, “There’s a very simple reality that most of the teams’ shareholders are still pumping money into it. So I think before removing what is a more sustainable alternative into the business model of the teams, we need to have a bit of a long-term view on what it’s going to do for the sport in the next few years.”
The other reason is because the sport wanted to create a closer grid. “It was felt that by allowing some components to be shared, you will avoid to have too much spread between the top and the bottom of the grid,” Mekies said. “Now, if you look at the results of the championships last year, and if you add up the points scored by the bottom four teams, we don’t even make up for the points that Alpine made in the sixth position.” Combined, the bottom four teams recorded 81 points, still 39 short of sixth place.
When Horner was asked to respond, he pointed out that Red Bull owns two teams in the Champions League, addressing Brown’s thought that no other entity owns two teams competing in the same league/series. But Horner also discussed Red Bull’s impact within the world of F1. “The commitment that Red Bull has made to Formula One, the commitment that Red Bull has made to these two teams, is outstanding and should be applauded and be grateful for, rather than derided and tried to compromise.”
He rattled off the energy drink company’s impact. In 2005, Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz was approached by former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone and former FIA president Max Mosley to buy Minardi, which was financially struggling. He acquired and invested in the team’s facilities in Italy. When the financial crisis hit from 2007 to 2008, Red Bull was one of the few teams that didn’t leave F1, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, F1 went racing again, starting at Red Bull Ring in 2020.
But when looking at Red Bull and RB, he says they’re “totally separate” teams based in two different countries, and there aren’t any agreements between them. “The one that is based in Italy has a far larger turnover of staff that end up in Maranello than end up in Milton Keynes,” Horner said. “They have different personalities, they have different characters, and they comply continually with the regulations. Indeed, the relationship is far less tight than some of the teams that enjoy very tight relationships with their engine manufacturers.”
(Lead photo of Carlos Sainz: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
