SAKHIR, Bahrain – After three days of testing in Bahrain, Formula One is just seven days away from the first race of the new season on March 5. The single preseason test ran remarkably smoothly for the vast majority of teams, but it was clear by the evening of the final day that some are much happier than others.
Below is a ranking of the teams based on the data available from the Bahrain test and conversations in the paddock over the three days. Due to the vast amount of variables at play, raw lap times from testing are notoriously unreliable for predicting true performance, but that hasn’t stopped us trying.
The Formula One season starts with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 5, live on ESPN at 9.55AM (Eastern Time).
1. Red Bull
Last year: 1st
Fastest preseason lap: 1:30.305 – Sergio Perez (C4 tyre)
Total Laps: 413 (5th overall)
Red Bull looked like the class of the field throughout testing and appeared to have the best single-lap and long-run pace at the Bahrain International Circuit. The team went about its test in a confident manner, completing a race simulation on the morning of the second day with stint times that still looked competitive compared to those of rival teams on the final day once track conditions had improved.
Sergio Perez’s fastest time on Saturday evening comes with all the usual caveats about fuel loads and engine modes, but it was still 0.3s faster than Lewis Hamilton in second place despite Perez using a the a tyre compound a step harder. Factor in the difference in performance between the C4 compound used by Perez and the C5 used by Hamilton, and Perez’s advantage was closer to 0.7s over Mercedes.
Ferrari opted against joining the performance runs on the final evening of testing, making it harder to draw a single-lap performance comparison with Red Bull. The timings of the race simulations of the two teams didn’t make for an easy comparison either, but taking into account a few variables Red Bull appeared to have a long run advantage of roughly 0.3s over Ferrari.
Combine that with almost every other team in the paddock pointing to Red Bull as the team to beat, and it would be foolish to put anyone other than the world champions at the top of this list ahead of the first race.
What they said
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen: “The car is working really well. Just going through a lot of things that we wanted to try, and everything is very interesting, what we have been trying. So very positive days for me. And…
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