2023 Pre-Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Feb 23 - 25

[vanburin]

Now they are approaching the race start time many drivers are doing sim laps ... HAM just did a 15-lap sim race on used medium tyres, running at first laps in mid 1.38 then in mid 1.39 after 10 laps or so and finishing in low 1.40 ...

Is that any good?

Just for comparison sake and to add some fodder for the discussion, here were the long runs during FP2 last year.

[organic]

i will not overreact... i will not overreact...

[MDrop17]

This is the second time a Red Bull jack failed

[organic]

This is the second time a Red Bull jack failed

Indeed. They have to redesign. RIP budget cap

[Xyz22]

AM only within 0.1s from RB confirmed !!!!!!!

[Spoutnik]

Really nice lap from Alonso, this AM is looking good

[organic]

Well Newey was asked who his competition are and he mentioned Ferrari, Mercedes and AMR soo.. seems their sim numbers were real

Alonso finally with a good career move?

[cplchanb]

Seems quite loose to me. Wouldn't say it's stable. I predict Checo having a tough time

The front end is quite good for Max' driving style from the onboard it looks, for a first day, but for Checo...

I agree, in the 1.32.8 lap it looked quite twitchy (with 2 snaps), something we haven't seen last year. Could still be testing different setups, but if this is the new behaviour it doesn't bode well for Checo.

well it isnt a secret that RB tend to design/run their cars to cater towards max's driving style over their 2nd driver...

[JPower]

I’m not taking much from the Alonso lap.

Leclerc has another moment in the T5-7 complex. Wouldn’t surprise me to see them bolt on the higher DF wing tomorrow.

[organic]

I’m not taking much from the Alonso lap.

Leclerc has another moment in the T5-7 complex. Wouldn’t surprise me to see them bolt on the higher DF wing tomorrow.

Do you know how many times Leclerc has had an issue there? Sainz struggled there all morning

[Spoutnik]

When I was telling Alpine fan that AM is improving faster than them - statistically - they were laughing at me

[fourmula1]

Well Newey was asked who his competition are and he mentioned Ferrari, Mercedes and AMR soo.. seems their sim numbers were real

Alonso finally with a good career move?

"Competition"...I think they are going to run away with it.

Alonso was my favorite driver for years...I got a bit sick of him last year for some reason. I do like the way he drives though. I would like to see him and another team up there in the mix though. W2W with the top 10 drivers. Hopefully some good racing.

[atanatizante]

HAM just ended a 17-lap race sim on also used medium tyres, starting on mid 1.38 and ending at low 1.39 ... very consistent lap times this time around ...

[organic]

HAM just ended a 17-lap race sim on also used medium tyres, starting on mid 1.38 and ending at low 1.39 ... very consistent lap times this time around ...

It was C2 compound I believe

[MDrop17]

Leclerc is now doing low 1:36, similar to Verstappen but Verstappen was in the high 1:35s for a while on the same tyre. I know we can't take the times too seriously, but it seems advantage RB at the moment.