2021 Pre-season testing. Bahrain 12-14 March

[godlameroso]

RBR is the only one that did long runs, likely with a full tank. We finally hear the Honda engine, although it has not been fully unleashed yet. This was a shakedown, and the unfortunate wind curtailed the day, as it will tomorrow. There looks like there's still parts to go on these cars, this is a dress rehearsal after all. Not a good way to start for Mercedes who have traditionally been faultless with reliability.

From what I can see, no one has laid their hand yet. No one does on day one. This is just to get a feel for the car, the second day is to set it up, and day three is to see where it stands.

[Tvetovnato]

It is absolutely mindblowing that the Sky commentators after one day of testing already are questioning if high rake is better than low rake for these regulations. Mindblowing.

[godlameroso]

Red Bull is consitently putting down long uninterrupted stints. Balance issues from morning have been sorted. It means the car is much better to work with this year i suppose.

I don't think it was hard to get set-up last year or the year before, it was just twitchy when put right on the edge. As of the time I post this, no one is close to the edge, Max is over 3 seconds off last years pole time if memory serves.

Edit: he is 3 seconds off his own Q3 time from last year!

Engine is turned down, this is race pace laps at best. 1:32's is pretty decent in race conditions wouldn't you say? After his third stop, going for the fastest lap of the race he did a 1:32.014.

He's done a couple laps in the 32's. Assuming he's carrying a race level fuel load one could roughly estimate that perhaps they're within .2 of last year.

[mkay]

Not a good way to start for Mercedes who have traditionally been faultless with reliability.

Mercedes was all over the place for the entire first week of 2019 winter testing, and really didn't show much until the very last day of testing.

It's still early, though undeniable that Red Bull picked up where they left off. Mercedes perhaps should have shook the car down ahead of testing... perhaps they would have spotted that gearbox failure.

Sky thinking that higher rake is the way to go this year...

[dans79]

Engine is turned down, this is race pace laps at best. 1:32's is pretty decent in race conditions wouldn't you say?

They didn't have any issue last year that I can remember at race pace speeds. Only when they pushed flat out as fast as the car could go did it have stability problems.

Honestly, I think every team will have as much DF if not more than they did last year, hence the reason why I think Pirelli changed the tyre construction just recently.

[Unf]

Astons were running on "T" tyres. Are they kind of prototype tyres? If so - they are similar to C1? C2? C3?

[dans79]

Astons were running on "T" tyres. Are they kind of prototype tyres? If so - they are similar to C1? C2? C3?

Yea T is testing, and its equivalent to a C3 if memory serves.

[JPower]

Astons were running on "T" tyres. Are they kind of prototype tyres? If so - they are similar to C1? C2? C3?

C3. Apparently they are from a different factory and they're checking consistency.

[MKlaus]

Mercedes was all over the place for the entire first week of 2019 winter testing, and really didn't show much until the very last day of testing.

unlike 2019, i don't think the current state of affairs are planned. in 2019 they came with one package that was slower as that was the plan. the world thought they were in trouble, but they were calm. doesn't seem to be the case now. but, they are a legendary team and will probably dig out of this hole.

[dans79]

From the Autosport Feed.

10:05
More problems for Mercedes? Hamilton returns to the Mercedes garage and is greeted by a chap wearing rubber gloves and safety clothing who checks on the car, which would indicate a potential electrical issue.

[Sieper]

First red flag. Leclerc stopped with what sounded like a misfiring engine.

Just before lunch, likely a planned action to probe the limits.

[nzjrs]

Favorite croftism for the day was the conversation about simulation/testing correlation. Karun: "how does it work" Crofty (like an idiot): "Well its about servers. You need a lot of servers, servers in the garage and at the factory". Karun: "..."

[Marble]

Anyone recorded the live timing ?
I thought I'd do a bit of runs analysis replaying the live timing but it seems the replay isn't available on the F1 app. Anyone could help ? Thanks

[Herr_Koos]

Anyone recorded the live timing ?
I thought I'd do a bit of runs analysis replaying the live timing but it seems the replay isn't available on the F1 app. Anyone could help ? Thanks

I don't think there was any live timing. The F1TV app only showed the main broadcast screen, with none of the usual extra bits.

[NathanOlder]

Anyone recorded the live timing ?
I thought I'd do a bit of runs analysis replaying the live timing but it seems the replay isn't available on the F1 app. Anyone could help ? Thanks

I don't think there was any live timing. The F1TV app only showed the main broadcast screen, with none of the usual extra bits.

There was live timing, I had it on my tablet most of the day.