Five things we learned from pre-season testing
Formula One’s pre-season testing took place last weekend (23 February – 25 February) and it gave fans and experts the first taste of how things are looking going into the new season so what is to be expected going into 2023?
Red Bull’s dominance strikes again
Fans of Red Bull will be delighted to hear that the team who dominated the 2022 season looks to be continuing its streak in the 2023 season. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the first testing session of the year with a 1:32.837 set, reaching a top speed of 209.864km/h.
Verstappen also completed the most laps during the first day of testing with 157 laps. Unlike most teams that split the morning and afternoon sessions between their two drivers, Red Bull let Verstappen drive in both sessions on the first day.
During day two and day three of testing, the results were similar with Verstappen going second on day two with a top speed of 212.582km/h, only being beaten by Zhou Guanyu with a 212.675km/h, and on day three, Sergio Perez, Red Bull’s second driver, went fastest and completed the most number of laps.
Throughout testing, it was clear to see that Red Bull has created a fast, reliable car. The results from the test show that Red Bull’s pace is faster than their past last season. The upgrades Red Bull has made from last season to this season have proved to work out and have made Red Bull the team to beat, at least for the first part of the season.
Verstappen said: “The car is a bit of an evolution from last year. It’s nice to see the new car, how the behaviour is a bit different.”
Max Verstappen ahead of his first day of testing (Image: Getty Images)
Ferrari’s fight back
Ferrari’s process throughout pre-season testing was different from other teams as they were mainly focused on testing out the car’s set-up window and reliability, one of their main problems in 2022 which cost them numerous wins and podiums.
As a result of this process, on the timesheets, Ferrari may look worse than they did last season but Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, ensures that: “The main target was getting as much mileage under our belt as possible and we did that.”
Vasseur believes that even though Ferrari does not look that good on the time sheets, they will still be competitive and will be competing at the front against Red Bull. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari’s driver, explains that there aren’t many differences between last season’s car and this season’s. However, Ferrari focused more on straight-line speed compared to corners as Red Bull’s straight-line speed in 2022 was their main advantage.
Charles Leclerc on track for Ferrari (Image: Getty Images)
Aston Martin - the talk of the town
The biggest headline from pre-season testing is Aston Martin who looked faster than the midfield and around the same pace as Mercedes.
Aston Martin has spent the last two seasons fighting within the lower half of the grid, achieving P7 in 2022 and 2021, so to see them fighting at the front end of the field is something that no one expected.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin’s driver, carried out both short runs and a long run which simulated a race. In both runs, Alonso performed better than the Mercedes duo hence the speculation that Aston Martin will be competing with Mercedes during the season.
However, the tyre degradation of the Aston Martin throughout these runs was significantly better than Ferrari’s which is making many fans and experts believe that Aston Martin will be fighting Ferrari for second instead of Mercedes for third.
Ted Kravitz, a pundit for Sky Sports F1, rated how he thinks the teams will perform this season and said: “Aston Martin, I’ve got them third and potentially even closer to Ferrari than that.”
Aston Martin is going to be the dark horse going into the 2023 season as no one saw them arriving to testing with a package that could take on the top 3.
Aston Martin’s newest addition, Fernando Alonso (Image: Getty Images)
Mercedes’ malfunction
Mercedes in 2022 had numerous issues with the car which meant they could not fight Ferrari and Red Bull at the front of the pack like they used to and had to accept a third place.
During pre-season testing, it was explained by Mercedes and their drivers that even though the porpoising (one of their main issues during the 2022 season) was gone, they still have numerous issues with the car.
During the first day of testing, Mercedes had issues with balancing and other problems that impacted their performance. During the second day of testing, Mercedes caused the second red flag of the testing period as the car had a hydraulic failure; showing first-hand the dilemmas Mercedes have been facing and will continue to face unless they fix the problem.
Mercedes showed improvement throughout the final day of testing, however, they still did not look as competitive as they would have wished. Finally, fans will be surprised to hear that Mercedes is planning to reverse their “no side-pods” idea that brought a lot of interest when they introduced this plan in the 2022 season.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton speaking ahead of testing (Image: Getty Images)
McLaren’s misstep
Throughout the three days of testing, it was clear to fans worldwide as well as individuals within the sport that McLaren’s development from last season to this season was disastrous. McLaren completed the least number of laps out of every team during testing and when the car was on track, it was evident that there were multiple issues with the car in terms of the car being draggy which resulted in the team having to make compromises between top speed and optimum downforce levels.
McLaren states that they have realised what the issue is with the car and will prioritise aerodynamic efficiency this year to address the issues. Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, said: "I wouldn't say there's a specific deficit in some areas, it's various reasons, I'm afraid that just continuous improvement and growth is needed, and we have to improve in all areas.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris testing the brand new car (Image: Getty Images)
McLaren will have to wait until their first upgrade package which is expected to come around the Azerbaijan Grand Prix - near the end of April - before they can hope to catch up to their competition.