2024 Pre-Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Feb 21 - 23

[SoulPancake13]

I mean, most of the teams have come out and said that they view RB ahead by a decent amount

[mendis]

[f1isgood]

Unlike last year, I am yet to see clear data of how good the RB car really is. Last year felt more indicative of what is to come. This year, everyone in the media and paddock seem to be hyping Red Bull up, but in terms of data, it's too unclear at least at this point.

Ferrari going quicker than 2020 cars in a slow speed corner was surprising to say the least.

[dialtone]

Compared to MCL sim it’s clearly ahead.

Very nice from Ferrari.

[the EDGE]

I haven't seen anything that suggest RB are the big bad boogeyman to be honest. If Verstappen wasn't on fuel fuel loads, then his race sims are slower than Leclerc.

When have they ever shown their hand in testing?

Maybe 2022 when their upgrade package arrived

Not really, their Q3 time was over a second quicker then their fastest practice time

[CouncilorIrissa]

I haven't seen anything that suggest RB are the big bad boogeyman to be honest. If Verstappen wasn't on fuel fuel loads, then his race sims are slower than Leclerc.

GP Lambiase gave everything away 6 hours into the test.

[Seanspeed]

Had quick check, last year first 5-7 laps he was at around 296-301 kmh.

RB were running very conservative engine modes in all their stint simulations.

How do you know and you think other teams will do otherwise? Everyone makes statements as if RB can’t be beating? Next week will show us the true pace of other teams

Well people from Mclaren, Mercedes and Ferrari have all openly admitted that Red Bull are ahead, so regardless of what we see, they seem to have enough information to be confident that Red Bull's pace is a step ahead of what they can do.

Which should not be any shock to anybody, really. It's not impossible one or more of them have an ace up their sleeve and are simply gassing up Red Bull on purpose to mislead people and the paddock, but realistically, this is a long shot.

[Cs98]

Had quick check, last year first 5-7 laps he was at around 296-301 kmh.

RB were running very conservative engine modes in all their stint simulations.

How do you know and you think other teams will do otherwise? Everyone makes statements as if RB can’t be beating? Next week will show us the true pace of other teams

Yes I think other teams did otherwise. Not saying they ran their engines full out, but I am saying RB ran theirs very conservatively compared to previously in the test.

[organic]

Every team in long runs day 3 was hitting 300+ except RB. Max was in the low 290s in the speedtrap. Considering the RB seems to be one of the lowest drag cars we can assume that they were majorly sandbagging at all times. The comments of various paddock members confirm as much

[mendis]

Max's stint lengths with sector speeds and speed trap.

C3


C1


C2



Charles' stint lengths with sector speeds and speed trap.

C3


C1


C2

[AR3-GP]

Max's stint lengths with sector speeds and speed trap.

C3
https://i.postimg.cc/vDFRZzHW/1.png

C1
https://i.postimg.cc/jdP2Q3NY/V2.png

C2
https://i.postimg.cc/ht0GNJpC/V3.png

This helps to understand a bit more. The speed trap numbers are illuminating. Not even cracking 290km/h on the start finish speed trap in that first run.

[mendis]

Max's stint lengths with sector speeds and speed trap.

C3
https://i.postimg.cc/vDFRZzHW/1.png

C1
https://i.postimg.cc/jdP2Q3NY/V2.png

C2
https://i.postimg.cc/ht0GNJpC/V3.png

This helps to understand a bit more. The speed trap numbers are illuminating.

The engine modes are not exactly unknown if you have followed these numbers. There are at least 3 to 4 engine modes (combination of ICE + Battery deployment) for long runs that almost all teams use.

One is around 275-280kph.
Second one is around 280-290 kph.
Another one at around 290-300kph range, depending on fuel loads.

These may vary a little depending on how many straights a circuit has (energy deployment) or how long the straight is. These modes are used in testing and Free practices.

The last one is usually the actual race mode, which is anywhere between 300-310kph. It is this mode which is also used for quali with the exception that they dump the whole battery for one lap. Add DRS to it, you would see 320-330+ kph.

In practice, when they go on softer compound, they lower the engine mode and as they move towards harder compound, they increase the engine mode a bit to offset the performance loss between the two compounds.

[Xyz22]

Max was also doing lift and coast.

Example:

[Fede90]

Anyone have a link to see the Mercede's onboard in this third day?

[f1isgood]

I am not sure how helpful this is, but here's the telemetry of the fastest laps of Max's last stint day 1 and Charles' last stint today..

I believe this could be more representative of the actual gaps than whatever we saw today. Engines seem down for RB more today than 2 days ago.