Red Bull dominates F1 preseason testing, but another team shows promise
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella beautifully summed up Formula One's preseason testing Thursday.
"There's one car that seems to have found a big step," Stella told the media. "Unfortunately, it's the car that was already the quickest last year."
That would be Red Bull, which won 21-of-22 races in fine style last season. The Austrian team is dominating preseason with a car that looks wildly different from its imperious 2023 iteration.
"We knew the others would copy us," Red Bull's chief technology officer Adrian Newey said. "If we would've just developed last year's car further, it would not have been enough."
The 2024 Red Bull has adopted a "zero sidepod" concept, one championed and eventually abandoned by Mercedes in 2023. Red Bull seems to have believed that its improved floor and aerodynamics would support Mercedes' failed concept and on the basis of preseason testing, that belief looks correct.
Driver Max Verstappen closed the first day of practice with the top time, more than a second faster than McLaren's Lando Norris in second. Verstappen's performance was so dominant on day one that Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds pledged to donate $250,000 to charity if anyone other than Verstappen takes home the driver's championship in 2024.
But as the second day of testing unfolded Thursday – and Verstappen made way for Red Bull's second driver, Sergio Perez – signs emerged Dodds may have committed too soon.
Ferrari, under the savvy hand of team principal Fred Vasseur, put in a stunning performance to claim the fastest time of testing day two.
"I feel like yesterday we had an optimal day out on track," Ferrari's Carlos Sainz said. "We ran a completely new car that seemed to be in a good window straight out of the box. We scanned the whole set-up, the whole up and down with the car, and it seemed to respond and react well."
Ferrari's strong performance isn't surprising to many in the world of F1. While the team struggled in 2023, it overhauled its engineering team during the offseason and has shown a renewed commitment to technical excellence. Many believe that seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton wouldn't have agreed to drive for Ferrari in 2025 without confirmation of the team's future competitiveness. Ferrari's pace in Bahrain adds credence to that theory.
One more testing day remains before the teams begin preparations for the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 2. While Red Bull remains – literally and figuratively – in the driver's seat, Ferrari's competitiveness should add fireworks to the 2024 season.
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