Formula 1 starts the new season in Bahrain. In 2023, the world championship title will only lead over Max Verstappen and Red Bull. The test drives leave room for speculation about the strength of the teams.
It’s a discussion that isn’t only conducted in Formula 1: What is the significance of tests before a new season in sport? Moody summer kicks from Bundesliga clubs on promotional tours reflect reality just as little as the so-called “pre-season” from US sports leagues such as the NBA or NFL.
But now it’s about Formula 1. And after a long winter with countless hours that engineers spend developing the new cars, the first public “exit” should be successful. Or?
Alonso strong in test drives – suddenly favorite?
Looking at the past test days of the Formula 1 teams in Bahrain, one would inevitably have to come to the conclusion that, alongside Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, Fernando Alonso also has a realistic chance of getting involved at the front. As a reminder, Alonso has taken over the cockpit from Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin, who at best made it into the top ten last season – if at all.
The actual informative value of such test drives can therefore at least be doubted. But you can’t and shouldn’t ignore them.
Red Bull is the team to beat
It was clear even before the test drives that Red Bull is the team to beat. Now it seems even clearer. The alleged challengers Ferrari and Mercedes revealed one or the other problem, especially in the racing simulations. George Russell, for example, was around nine tenths slower than Sergio Perez in the Red Bull over the entire race distance.
Based on this data, Ferrari is much closer to the world champion team. And yet both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are lagging behind in terms of race pace. The latter finally wants to tackle the long-awaited world championship title in 2023. The “Scuderia” has been waiting for a title since 2007 (Kimi Räikkönen).
Ferrari team boss Vasseur: “It’s difficult to judge the pace”
The new team manager Frederic Vasseur, coming from Alfa Romeo, has admitted that only such a racing simulation can really be meaningful during the test drives. “You can’t judge the pace of a single lap because you don’t know whether someone has 20, 30 or 40 kilos on board”, says Vasseur. What is meant here is the amount of fuel.
Motorsport portals such as “Motorsport.com”, which have interpreted hundreds of data from the test drives, even speculate whether Alonso at least could reach the level of Ferrari at the first race weekend in Bahrain (02.03.2023 to 05.03.2023).
Aston Martin teammate Felipe Drugovich, who is in the cockpit for the injured Lance Stroll, was slower than the two-time world champion but confirmed the strong performance of billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s racing team. Alonso not only did by far the most laps (270), but also made the best impression alongside Verstappen.
Development of the cars continues until the start of the season
A look at the recent past shows that test drives can be a first reflection of performance, but experience has shown that top teams in particular are still holding back a bit. In addition, the data now obtained continues to flow into the development of the cars. In 2022 Mercedes looked strong in the tests, but lagged behind at the start of the season.
The year before it was the other way around: Red Bull seemed to be the big favorite, but Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes won the first race. In the end, both teams and drivers dueled each other with ups and downs throughout the season – up until the spectacular final race in Abu Dhabi.
Record racing calendar from March to November
The 2023 season will also end there. There are 21 races between the start at Sakhir (05/03/2023) and the finish at Yas Marina Curcuit (26/11/2023). A racing calendar with 23 races is a record and will mean that the balance of power can shift again over the course of a season.
Red Bull will lead, Red Bull is the favourite. Also because Max Verstappen, as a two-time world champion, is clearly the number one in the team. In the case of the competition Ferrari and Mercedes, the balance of power is less clear: Sainz recently proved that he can definitely keep up with Leclerc. Russell even scored more points in 2022 than seven-time world champion Hamilton.
And Alonso? He can attack again at the age of 41. Or not. The first racing action will bring light into the darkness.