SAKHIR, Bahrain — Reigning world champion Max Verstappen topped the opening day of preseason testing as Formula One returned to action in Bahrain.
The three-day test at the Bahrain International Circuit is the only chance teams will have to run their cars on track ahead of the opening race at the same circuit next weekend.
The first day saw 19 drivers on track across ten cars, with Red Bull the only team not to split its track time between its two drivers on Thursday as Verstappen completed a whole day at the wheel. Teammate Sergio Perez will share Friday’s running with Verstappen before getting an entire day at the wheel on Saturday.
Verstappen completed a total of 157 laps on Thursday and set his fastest lap in the afternoon with a 1:32.837 — roughly 2.3s off last year’s pole position time at the same circuit.
Thursday offered the first look at Red Bull’s new RB19, which the team opted not to reveal at its season launch in New York earlier this month but appears to be an evolution of last year’s championship-winning car.
“[The car is] a bit of an evolution from last year,” Verstappen told media after the test session. “I think last year was more a time where you were really adapting to the car, really understanding what you had to do.
“Of course, with all the knowledge from last year, I think it’s already a much easier start for everyone to come back here. It’s nice to see the new car, how it has evolved from last year, how the behaviour is a bit different, and also because of the tyres.
“It was a good day to understand all of that.”
Verstappen finished the day 0.029s faster than Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in second place and 0.415s ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in third. All three drivers set their times on the same C3 tyre compound.
Alonso set his best time towards the end of the session when track conditions were at their best, although at this stage of testing the lap times are not always the best indicator of true performance.
The only 2023 race driver not present at this week’s test is Alonso’s Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll. The Canadian injured his wrist in a cycling incident earlier last week, and although he’s not been ruled out of next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Aston Martin has been unable to confirm if he will recover in time.
“He was training, trying to work on his fitness last week, he was cycling and he had a small incident and hurt himself,” Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said on Thursday. “For precautionary reasons we decided it’s better to wait a little bit and be ready next week.
“He’s injured on the hand, on the wrist. But I don’t want to go into details because this is privacy.”
Aston Martin opted to run reserve driver Felipe Drugovich on Thursday morning in Stroll’s place, although the F2 champion’s time in the car was limited slightly be an electrical issue that also caused the day’s only red flag.
Lando Norris was fifth-fastest for McLaren using the C3 tyre compound ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the new Mercedes W14 also on the C3.
After its run of eight consecutive constructors’ titles from 2014 to 2021, Mercedes struggled throughout last year winning just one race from 22. The team claims to have understood where it wrong in 2022 and says it has applied the lessons from its disappointing campaign to this year’s W14.
The new car is clearly an evolution of some of the concepts on last year’s W13, but team boss Toto Wolff said the bouncing issues that plagued Mercedes early last year appear to have been resolved.
“There’s no bouncing, which is good news, apart from that big bump at the end of the straight,” Wolff said. “A good starting point. We are getting a lot of data which is important to correlate after last year and try different things.
“[Last year] knew we were in trouble because the car was bouncing around and we really weren’t able to drive it correctly. [Today] is very different.
“We have a very solid base now to work from and try to optimise the car, which we haven’t done yet, it’s really just padding out, are there any areas that a could be real performance hinderance like last year with the bouncing. Now we’ve just got to work through the programme.”
Alex Albon was seventh-fastest for Williams using the C4 tyre compound and just fractionally faster than Zhou Guanyu‘s best time in the Alfa Romeo using the C3. Nico Hulkenberg was the fastest of the two Haas drivers in 11th place overall on the C3, with rookie Nyck de Vries setting the fastest time for AlphaTauri in 13th on a prototype version of the C3.
Alpine was the lowest ranked of the ten teams on Thursday after using the C2 compound for its fastest laps, but with a healthy total of 113 laps and no prizes for finishing higher up the order, it is unlikely to worry the team at this stage of preseason.
Day 1 final times:
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull – 1:32.837 – 157 laps – C3
2. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin – +0.029s – 60 laps – C3
3. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari – +0.416s – 72 laps – C3
4. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari – +0.430s – 64 laps – C3
5. Lando Norris – McLaren – +0.625s – 40 laps – C3
6. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes – +0.671s – 83 laps – C3
7. Alexander Albon – Williams – +0.834s – 74 laps – C4
8. Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo – +0.886s – 67 laps – C3
9. George Russell – Mercedes – +1.337s – 69 laps – C3
10. Logan Sargeant – Williams – +1.487s – 75 laps – C3
11. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas – +1.587s – 51 laps – C3
12. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo – +1.721s – 71 laps – C3
13. Nyck de Vries – AlphaTauri – +1.722 – 85 laps – C3 (prototype)
14. Felipe Drugovich – Aston Martin – +1.727s – 40 laps – C3
15. Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri – +1.834s – 46 laps – C3
16. Pierre Gasly – Alpine – +1.985s – 60 laps – C2
17. Esteban Ocon – Alpine – +2.034s – 53 laps – C2
18. Oscar Piastri – McLaren – +2.051s – 52 laps – C3
19. Kevin Magnussen – Haas – +2.250s – 57 laps – C3