The key data from F1’s only pre-season test of 2023 · RaceFans

The only meaningful track time that the ten Formula 1 teams will have before the longest season in history kicks off in anger has come to a close.

Just three days and 25-and-a-half hours of scheduled testing time have come and gone – and on the face of it, it would be easy to assume that the 2023 F1 season is simply going to pick up where 2022 left off. Red Bull sit atop the times sheet, with Mercedes closest to them and Ferrari also looking within reach of the world champions.

But digging deeper, the data from almost 4,000 laps covered during the only pre-season test offers a better picture of who enjoyed a promising start to the season and who did not – as well as offering a striking demonstration of just how far teams have developed their ground effect philosophies just 12 months on from running the current generation of cars for the very first time.

Lap times: Driver

Sergio Perez has spent his second successive winter doing extensive homework, working hard with his engineers to figure out how he can offer a challenge to Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen. At the end of the final day today, Perez was the fastest of all 20 drivers who partook in the test, an ego-boosting three-and-a-half tenths of a second quicker than any other driver and a full 1.3 seconds quicker than Verstappen had gone the day before.

But it would be foolish to read anything into Perez’s margin over his team mate – especially when Verstappen did not run at all on the final day. What is more noteworthy is that Perez’s best time was comfortably quicker than Hamilton’s, despite the Mercedes setting his on the softer C5 tyres.

Of the three rookies embarking on their first seasons in Formula 1 this year, Nyck de Vries was the quickest despite not pushing close to his AlphaTauri’s ultimate pace on the final day. De Vries reported there had been some “limitations” with the car, but Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri will both be hoping to find more pace from their own cars next weekend.

Lap times: Team

For the second year running, Red Bull will head to the first race weekend of the season having set the pace on the final day of pre-season testing. But unlike 2022, Mercedes are much closer to their fiercest rivals – Lewis Hamilton being the closest driver to Perez’s benchmark, albeit still over three tenths off despite the benefit of setting his best time on softer tyres than Perez.

The…