2023 Pre-Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Feb 23 - 25

[Juzh]

perez fastest lap 1.30.305
https://streamable.com/n7gc7j


sainz's best lap 1.31.036
https://streamable.com/4q8xxk


Looking at car behaviour it seems obvious ferrari is loaded with quite a lot more fuel than perez is.
Apex speed at T6-7 is 10 km/h lower than in 2022 Q3 even on a lot faster tyres (c4 + faster tyres in general), but it's 10 kmh higher in T4. This tells me sainz isn't pushing a whole lot.
There's absolute boatloads of time still left in that ferrari.

[Vanja #66]

perez fastest lap 1.30.305
https://streamable.com/n7gc7j


sainz's best lap 1.31.036
https://streamable.com/4q8xxk


Looking at car behaviour it seems obvious ferrari is loaded with quite a lot more fuel than perez is.
Apex speed at T6-7 is 10 km/h lower than in 2022 Q3 even on a lot faster tyres (c4 + faster tyres in general), but it's 10 kmh higher in T4. This tells me sainz isn't pushing a whole lot.
There's absolute boatloads of time still left in that ferrari.

Always a pleasure watching your videos. Sainz being 10km/h slower in T7 right at the bollard than 2022, but also those same 10-11km/h slower than Perez. Does that mean Perez also left something on the table?

[Juzh]

Perez definitely left something on the table, I think it's just less than Sainz. Rear wing on the ferrari remains a mystery. If they're able to run it they'll be impossible to overtake, worse even than RB last year.

[PhillipM]

Just watching that what immediately strikes me is how smoothly he's turning in and how late he's trail braking to get the car to turn (Sainz) - I think that car still had a good chunk of fuel in it, he was deliberately trying not to overload/overheat the tyres until the car was at the slowest point of the apex.

Even the RB seems to have some fuel in it the way the rear tyres started to go off at the end there.

[dialtone]

Perez definitely left something on the table, I think it's just less than Sainz. Rear wing on the ferrari remains a mystery. If they're able to run it they'll be impossible to overtake, worse even than RB last year.

It will be impossible in Jeddah, but here in Bahrein, if they don't fix their balance stuff, they'll run through the tire and lose traction out of the corner like Ferrari in Miami last year out of T16.

[SSScoffee]

Weren't Perez's tyres quite a few laps old?

[dialtone]

Weren't Perez's tyres quite a few laps old?

Brand new C4

[Chuckjr]

It’s interesting to hear the turbo quick spool and act as a supercharger at the beginning of long straights. Fantastic videos. Thank you.

[avantman]

Perez definitely left something on the table, I think it's just less than Sainz. Rear wing on the ferrari remains a mystery. If they're able to run it they'll be impossible to overtake, worse even than RB last year.

It will be impossible in Jeddah, but here in Bahrein, if they don't fix their balance stuff, they'll run through the tire and lose traction out of the corner like Ferrari in Miami last year out of T16.

I don't think traction was Ferrari problem in Miami. Front graining on starting compound on Leclerc car was. When he cleared it, he was as fast as Max pretty much all race. He was actually even faster on hards after the SC, but not enough to pass by.

[Artur Craft]

Watching F1 is like waiting for an empire to fall (Ferrari : 2000-2008, Red Bull : never really falled but had a Renault PU, Merc : 2014-2020).

Merc was an empire on 2021 as well, they won the WCC by a confortable margin. We needed a reg change to dethrone them, pretty much the same thing as with Ferrari in 2009.

For empires to fall, we need reg changes. Maybe that should happen every 4 years.

[Vanja #66]

Ferrari took 9 double titles 2000-2008? First I heard

What Merc did with their engine project was perfectly legitimate (to invest so much more time, money and manpower than any other manufacturer), but should have been noticed by FIA and FOM. Their dominance and sandbagging whole race weekends, not to show their hand and keep their true pace a secret, confirmed F1 and FOM were actively looking the other way.

Ferrari had the best team and the best driver in those 5 years. They failed for 4 seasons before they succeeded. Only 2 seasons were true dominance, same as RB-Vettel era. Both periods are utterly incomparable to the travesty of Mercedes dominance

[AR3-GP]

Ferrari took 9 double titles 2000-2008? First I heard

What Merc did with their engine project was perfectly legitimate (to invest so much more time, money and manpower than any other manufacturer), but should have been noticed by FIA and FOM. Their dominance and sandbagging whole race weekends, not to show their hand and keep their true pace a secret, confirmed F1 and FOM were actively looking the other way.

F1 wasn't looking the other way. They never cared in the first place. It was the culture of F1 to let teams spend without conscience.

[Vanja #66]

They sure cared about messing up Ferrari with tyre and aero change for 2005 and engine change for 2006, didn't they?

[Sieper]

Perez definitely left something on the table, I think it's just less than Sainz. Rear wing on the ferrari remains a mystery. If they're able to run it they'll be impossible to overtake, worse even than RB last year.

It will be impossible in Jeddah, but here in Bahrein, if they don't fix their balance stuff, they'll run through the tire and lose traction out of the corner like Ferrari in Miami last year out of T16.

I don't think traction was Ferrari problem in Miami. Front graining on starting compound on Leclerc car was. When he cleared it, he was as fast as Max pretty much all race. He was actually even faster on hards after the SC, but not enough to pass by.

But when you are close behind you also benefit, enormously, from tow.

[Artur Craft]

Ferrari took 9 double titles 2000-2008? First I heard .....

I agree with literally everything you said there. I used the term empire losely, because it was a metaphor used by our other fellow member.

Empires are never equal, each has it´s own peculiarities. Btw, if RB´s "empire" already comes to an end this year, I wonder if people will still call these new regulations a failure