2024 Pre-Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Feb 21 - 23

[Sieper]

It is in the line of expectations that RBR will be best. Like it was in the Merc years when they built on their advantage. Certainly. But. You just never really now. Looking forward to the tests though!

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The goal is spectacle, tragedy, conversation. 2 cars stopping on track just before race end, even more when they are front runners, perfect!

All these sprint races towards end season this year. If there is no big gap in points, will keep the title race alive (for longer).everything is aimed at that.

I agree with you but realistically the next 2 years are set for RBR. And with budget caps and no testing the ability to catch up is minimal.

The trade off of having a couple of reliability issues at beginning of season is not worth it.

How is the ability to catch up minimal? McLaren and AMR have proven huge leaps can be made. It's just that in '23 RB's closest rivals in Merc/Ferrari dropped the ball and fell backwards

[dialtone]

The goal is spectacle, tragedy, conversation. 2 cars stopping on track just before race end, even more when they are front runners, perfect!

All these sprint races towards end season this year. If there is no big gap in points, will keep the title race alive (for longer).everything is aimed at that.

I agree with you but realistically the next 2 years are set for RBR. And with budget caps and no testing the ability to catch up is minimal.

The trade off of having a couple of reliability issues at beginning of season is not worth it.

How is the ability to catch up minimal? McLaren and AMR have proven huge leaps can be made. It's just that in '23 RB's closest rivals in Merc/Ferrari dropped the ball and fell backwards

I wouldn’t confuse the possibility of catching up on occasion with sustainability of that performance or repeatability of seeing others catch up.

In other words: to catch up I have to take risks, I could be lucky and nail it and catch up, or I’m not lucky at all and I go backwards.

It’s harder to know where you are until the season starts because you have no tests, once the season starts you can spend it updating the car and testing, up to budget cap, however the season is gone meanwhile.

AMR and MCL were close to Ferrari and Merc not RBR.

EDIT: I will say that continuously talking about these teams as ‘dropped the ball’ as if success is a given or they are incompetent is pretty tedious.

[Vanja #66]

If the goal was to spice things up, then their only challenger was RB and RB didn't have enough testing time. That is the problem in a nutshell.

There were 6 days in 22 testing and plenty of chance for RB to spot fuel pump issues had they trully pushed the car to the limit. That's the issue with excessive sandbagging, it tends to leave you speechless in those first races

[Xyz22]

Just bring back in season testing but regulate it with a limited amount of KM based on WCC position. This will help massively Teams that are struggling with simulations compared to the others as they can have access to real world data.

[AR3-GP]

If the goal was to spice things up, then their only challenger was RB and RB didn't have enough testing time. That is the problem in a nutshell.

There were 6 days in 22 testing and plenty of chance for RB to spot fuel pump issues had they trully pushed the car to the limit. That's the issue with excessive sandbagging, it tends to leave you speechless in those first races

Ferrari was sandbagging too . They suddenly had power unit issues a few races into the year.

[Chuckjr]

The real reason, as every change has been catered to, is a higher chance of more spectacle, that is what sells F1.

Exactly.

[Vanja #66]

Ferrari was sandbagging too . They suddenly had power unit issues a few races into the year.

Like I said, excessive sandbagging is the problem. As we all saw last year, they didn't repeat that mistake.

Second thing, Ferrari PU issues came with "improved" ICE reliability in Barcelona PU update, when ICE was turned up (by 10-15 HP rumours said)

[Juzh]

I reckon a second up on last year. Rules are very stable, unlike from 22->23 when new floor edge and diffuser rules had a much biggest impact than people expected.

[organic]

I reckon a second up on last year. Rules are very stable, unlike from 22->23 when new floor edge and diffuser rules had a much biggest impact than people expected.

My guess is a wild 1.5s per lap.. I think most teams were operating on 2 year cycles and this is their chance to make improvements at architecture level. So I think there will be a bigger step this winter than any other time in the reg set

[Vanja #66]

0.5-1s improvements, unless RB turns up with a monster improvement the final day

[mendis]

Mercedes , Ferrari, McLaren and Aston would make smaller gains (around a second) than the bottom ones like Alfa, Williams and VCARB(around 1.5 seconds). Red Bull is an unknown as there appears to be major changes.

Haas would remain a distant 10th, regardless of their improvements. They might even realise their 2023 car is faster than 2024.

[Cs98]

I reckon a second up on last year. Rules are very stable, unlike from 22->23 when new floor edge and diffuser rules had a much biggest impact than people expected.

My guess is a wild 1.5s per lap.. I think most teams were operating on 2 year cycles and this is their chance to make improvements at architecture level. So I think there will be a bigger step this winter than any other time in the reg set

Merc, AMR, Ferrari, are spending a large part of those architectural improvements merely converging on where RB was conceptually. 1,5s from last year would essentially mean those cars are a second faster than RB19, I don't see that.

[organic]

I reckon a second up on last year. Rules are very stable, unlike from 22->23 when new floor edge and diffuser rules had a much biggest impact than people expected.

My guess is a wild 1.5s per lap.. I think most teams were operating on 2 year cycles and this is their chance to make improvements at architecture level. So I think there will be a bigger step this winter than any other time in the reg set

Merc, AMR, Ferrari, are spending a large part of those architectural improvements merely converging on where RB was conceptually. 1,5s from last year would essentially mean those cars are a second faster than RB19, I don't see that.

I wasn't suggesting every team improves by 1.5s

[Cs98]

My guess is a wild 1.5s per lap.. I think most teams were operating on 2 year cycles and this is their chance to make improvements at architecture level. So I think there will be a bigger step this winter than any other time in the reg set

Merc, AMR, Ferrari, are spending a large part of those architectural improvements merely converging on where RB was conceptually. 1,5s from last year would essentially mean those cars are a second faster than RB19, I don't see that.

I wasn't suggesting every team improves by 1.5s

No I get that, but I would contend even one team getting 1,5s would be insane.