The Formula 1 pre-season testing is a crucial event in the lead-up to the start of the season. The 2023 season is no exception, as teams look to refine their cars and drivers get up to speed. While there may be some unanswered questions, a few takeaways stand out. The Red Bull team had an exceptional testing session with their car demonstrating strong performance on both short and long runs. The RB18 car, which is an evolution of the previous model, has been significantly improved in every aspect, including its weight. This has created a machine that builds on the success of the previous year. Red Bull and Max Verstappen are seen as clear favorites for the upcoming season as Verstappen was visibly very pleased with the team's performance and the car's drivability.
Aston Martin also impressed the paddock during testing. In World Champion Fernando Alonso's hands, the car looked as quick as Mercedes on a single lap, and even better on long runs. The tire degradation made it look at least as good as Ferrari, which could place it ahead of the midfield teams. The AMR-23 looks competitive in all conditions and on all tire compounds, after Red Bull, Aston Martin left arguably the strongest impression of any team.
Ferrari, though not very impressive on track, remained quietly confident in its car at the end of testing. Some low fuel laps earlier in the final day when the track was slower seemed to put Ferrari within about two-tenths, but its long-run pace was less impressive. The team feels that this was a productive test with a lot of work done exploring the car's setup window and validating reliability. Some experiments did not work, which is when the car looked least encouraging, but in the right window, the car has the performance it needs. There are no dramatically different car traits, although Charles Leclerc said it's a bit better on the straights and a bit harder in the corners, a trade-off Ferrari has made to try to combat Red Bull's straight line speed advantage from last year.
Mercedes had a strange three days in Bahrain. It started solidly on Thursday, was all over on Friday, and then turned things around on the final day. However, it remains ambiguous where Mercedes stands in the pecking order. The Mercedes doesn't seem to be a Red Bull beater yet, or seems to have a firm grasp on third place with the Aston Martin showing great pace. While the progress made on the final day was significant, it was also inconclusive. The car, however, does not have a porpoising problem, which was a big concern last season.
On paper, things didn't look good for Alpine at the test. It was the slowest of the 10 teams, nearly two and a half seconds off the pace, the only team to go slower than last year's Bahrain tests. It had the second least number of laps logged. There were a few problems, some of which were ascribed to set up changes taking longer than expected due to a lack of familiarity with the new car. In particular, the redesigned push-rod rear suspension was a challenge. However, team principal Otmar Szafnauer is quietly confident, given that the test went far better.
There was some expectation that the test would reveal some innovative car tweaks and tricks, but such revelations were restricted to fairly subtle aero tweaks. This might indicate that F1 teams have locked in their concepts and understand them relatively well. Now, it's all about incremental fine-tuning and constant tweaking of aero surfaces to optimize the airflow in every way. Cumulatively, there can be huge performance gains in all those changes, but we know that updates are coming. Alpine will have a visible update at the opening race, while Mercedes and McLaren have both significant updates in the coming weeks.
Overall, the 2023 pre-season testing has set the stage for what promises to be another exciting and competitive season of Formula 1 and, there is a lot to look forward to as the teams and drivers prepare to battle it out on the track in the coming weeks.
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