The dust in the desert around the Sakhir has settled for now. But after the last three days of testing, is Formula 1 really that much smarter when it comes to the favorites for the season opener next weekend at the Bahrain International Circuit? In the new racing year, just called “The Revenge” after the final drama of 2021, pretty much everything is different – as far as the basic technology is concerned. The biggest cut in the regulations in four decades should free the deadlocked field, open up new opportunities for actually all racing teams and more overtaking manoeuvres. Great intentions after Mercedes hijacked the hybrid era and only Red Bull Racing was on par.
But then, at the end of the test drives in the Kingdom of the Gulf, the number one is back in front, world champion Max Verstappen. As easy as if everyone else’s ambitious extra shifts had been for nothing. If you take Saturday’s time game as a basis, then the rulers and the fans can still be cautiously optimistic. Adjusted for different tire compounds and tank contents, the field is closer together.
And until you get to Verstappen’s opponent Lewis Hamilton in the final table, you have to scroll for an unusually long time, you only find the World Cup runner-up in 17th place and four and a half seconds behind. Of course, this enormous gap is not representative, it simply shows that the Briton was unable to seriously compete in the time hunt. He is even generally disillusioned: “I don’t think we can fight for victories at the moment.”
Mick Schumacher suddenly moves up to second place in Bahrain
However, nobody really wants to believe that the designers of the Silver Arrow, which shines again in its original color, are completely wrong. The car just showed up with a bold solution to the sidepods. Test drives are always a game of hide-and-seek, many racing teams only reveal their cards at the last moment and play their aerodynamic tricks. Red Bull is a specialist in this, and Verstappen’s best time is probably part of the game. Others are still content with simulations, like Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin team, who were more keen to understand the new car.
The fact that Mick Schumacher can suddenly move up to second place with the Haas-Ferrari, last season’s bottom, cannot really be classified yet. The German was given two hours of detention after his team missed the first session in Bahrain due to transport problems.
New teammate: Mick Schumacher (left) has an experienced driver from the Haas racing team at his side in the Dane Kevin Magnussen. The contract with the Russian Nikita Masepin was terminated in response to the Ukraine war.
(Photo: Mazen Mahdi/AFP)
The experts basically see another car in second position that has not been seen this high for a long time: the Ferrari. The Italians had sacrificed the whole of last season to work in the wind tunnel, meticulously preparing for the racing cars with larger wheels, heavier weight and limited wing variants. Monegasque Charles Leclerc, who finished third, speaks of the “best winter I’ve ever experienced”.
Almost everyone was surprised by the phenomenon called “porpoising” during the first tests
The huge problem with which the eight-time constructors’ world champion Mercedes has to struggle is quite obviously and by no means exclusive to the German-British racing team. During the first test drives in Barcelona two weeks ago, almost everyone was surprised by the phenomenon called “porpoising”. This is an unforeseen point in aerodynamics that had not surfaced in the wind tunnels. At top speed, of all things, the cars start to hop like rabbits.
This is roughly the exact opposite of what the new regulations were intended to achieve: racing cars that suck themselves onto the asphalt, whose indestructible suction effect is intended to make it easier to approach and overtake. The jumping movements are neither elegant nor in the sense of the inventors, but can be explained physically. Most cars are so low on the straights that the underbody is getting closer and closer to the road – the desired suction effect. But if they do it too hard, i.e. actually stick to the asphalt, it causes a small stall. This lets the chassis shoot up briefly before the suction starts again. The ups and downs of the cars are reminiscent of the swimming movements of bottlenose dolphins (engl. “porpoise”) – the car pumps, the balance is gone.
Again in silver: Mercedes has taken up the new regulations with a bold solution for the side boxes.
(Photo: Mark Sutton/imago)
Most have the problem under control now, the two mandatory air tunnels in the underbody have side slits. In principle, it would be very easy to increase the ground clearance of the cars – but that would be at the expense of speed.
This is exactly the conflicting goals Pat Symonds wanted for the engineers. The British technician, once notorious at Benetton for his vehicle interpretations bordering on legality, is now the brains behind the rule revolution: “We are fundamentally changing Formula 1 and are creating a breakthrough.” Bahrain’s first ranking proves him right, but tests are not races. In the end, everything is always physics, but the strict cost cap will leave little time and money in the future to be able to fix fundamental errors during the current season.
This turnaround has been one of Mercedes’ great strengths so far. But even Lewis Hamilton has his doubts after his new team-mate George Russell finished fifth, one second behind: “The challenges are much greater this year.” Max Verstappen, on the other hand, does not trust the competition: “It’s always the same. A week later they are suddenly back and praise themselves for the unbelievable work of the team.”
Cars that rock, people who rock – Formula 1 seems to be ready for the next roller coaster season.