It was a most interesting test day. Here’s why.
SAKIR, Bahrain—Quite a few spectators and journalists were present Thursday at the Bahrain International Circuit for the first of the final three days of F1 pre-testing for 2022. And those assembled were treated to several surprises. First, the crowd saw Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly–with his set of soft tires–secure the fastest time of the day (1:33:902). Then, A.M.G. Mercedes’s radical sidepods made some observers believe the team had difficulties with the car. Several teams even speculated about the legality of the car even though a formal protest to the F.I.A. would undoubtedly result in a ruling in Mercedes’s favor.
Team Principal Toto Wolffone was one person who was neither surprised nor concerned. “We are proud of what we have achieved in terms of concept, but now we need to make it go fast. It’s about tuning the car. We’re experimenting a lot and approaching it with curiosity. (In Bahrain) it’s hot, and the cars are bouncing on the straights and through the corners. So it’s a tuning question, and we haven’t looked at the performance data yet.”
The problem to be addressed is called “porpoising.” The car tends to bounce up and down on the straights. That happened to all the cars in the first test in Spain, but it was especially onerous for Mercedes. Russell finished ninth and Hamilton ended up 11th.
Another matter of discussion on Thursday was whether the Ferrari would sustain its performance in Spain and, in effect, be able to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull this season. And after Day #1 in Bahrain, the answer remains “possibly.” Carlos Sainz Jr., who took over for his teammate, Charles Leclerc in the afternoon, posted the second-fastest time next to Gasly. Leclerc, meanwhile, who had the quickest time before lunch, took third.
Lance Stroll gave Aston Martin more hope of becoming a challenger for fifth or higher in the Constructor’s Championship by taking the fourth-fastest time of the day. Sebastian Vettel was eighth in the second Aston Martin. Alex Albon was an impressive fifth in the Williams, while Lando Norris finished sixth in the McLaren. Valtteri Bottas took a well-deserved seventh in the Alfa Romeo, while his teammate, Chinese rookie Guanyu Zhou, ended up 14th in the second Alfa Romeo.
Defending champion Max Verstappen took the day off, meaning that his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez ran solo, and Perez did not have a good day. He finished tenth, ending the session a few minutes early after slowly spinning into the gravel at turn eight.
At Alpine, there are still more questions than answers. The team is testing everything until the first race, when the cars will use the full force of their new Renault engine. Thus far, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon have not been impressive, and that included Thursday’s performance, when they finished 12th and 13th, respectively.
Fifteenth and the last position went to Pietro Fittipaldi of Haas, who arrived late due to getting equipment shipped to Bahrain from Turkey. The team missed the morning session, and Fittipaldi did the best he could in the afternoon, completing 47 laps before the day’s end. Haas will get four additional hours of testing in the next two days, but it is undetermined at this time just when that will be.
