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

[AR3-GP]

Also, considering that they are enabling DRS on the second lap, I doubt anyone will be able to disappear. Instead, we will have big DRS trains.

[djones]

Also, considering that they are enabling DRS on the second lap, I doubt anyone will be able to disappear. Instead, we will have big DRS trains.

I did not know this. Has anything else changed?

[AR3-GP]

Also, considering that they are enabling DRS on the second lap, I doubt anyone will be able to disappear. Instead, we will have big DRS trains.

I did not know this. Has anything else changed?

It was something that was mentioned alongside the sprint format changes (I don't know if you saw those articles) but the qualifying sessions have been swapped (sprint qualy on friday, etc)

[stonehenge]

Also, considering that they are enabling DRS on the second lap, I doubt anyone will be able to disappear. Instead, we will have big DRS trains.

Increasing DRS/Changing the 1 sec window/creating a special rule for following the leader would also be the easiest way for F1/Liberty to curb Red Bull dominance without resorting to more drastic steps like BoP. So watch this space.

[Sieper]

It is. And it isn’t. Because DRS trains are the one thing that are really offputting to me. If you don’t have a car that is thát much quicker (and who in the midfield does) you are just stuck. It is a race killer.

[deadhead]

Having the RB19 around as a reference point is really nice

[Seanspeed]

3 tenths all in all is not a huge gap whatsoever. I think we could be in for a more exciting season than we realize...

For one, never trust anything Helmut Marko says.

Two, Red Bull didn't often have a huge ultimate pace advantage last year, either. It was their consistency, race pace/minimal tire wear, and fantastic top speed that led to them dominating the results as they did.

Regardless, it's not a good sign when it only takes one day for rival teams to just straight out admit that Red Bull is in front. Things must be very clear for them to make such statements.

[Arcanum]

It is. And it isn’t. Because DRS trains are the one thing that are really offputting to me. If you don’t have a car that is thát much quicker (and who in the midfield does) you are just stuck. It is a race killer.

And before DRS, there was the Trulli train. At least DRS gives the car immediately behind the first car in the train (without DRS) a fighting chance of overtaking.

Sure, DRS is artificial, and sure, at some circuits it's way too powerful. Yet, in my view, it's way better than all those races in the 2000's and 2010's where we just got to see a procession of cars with few overtakes. Not for nothing was F1 famed for being a pit stop race as that's when all the overtakes happened. And refuelling was an artificial way to try and inject some additional variability in both pit stops and performance overlaps.

Sure, F1 was more purist without DRS. But it was also really, really boring if people are honest and don't just recall the occasional Grand Prix where cars out of position, and/or weather, and/or crashes, really mixed things up.

Unless the majority of aerodynamic aids are removed, we'll always be faced with incredibly aero-optimised cars that are compromised by the dirty air of the car ahead. For that reason I cannot see DRS going away. And if it does, we should all get ready for F1 races with next to no overtaking in it again. Watching Monaco 24 times a year will get old, real fast!

[Mandrake]

https://i.ibb.co/B4xqp4y/Screenshot-202 ... 200347.png

interesting comparison.

Top speed slower and minimum corner speed lower, but equal acceleration?

Does it mean low fuel but not 100% push? Or what would you interpret?

[zeroday]

The engineers at the other top teams might as well go home

ngl, based on every other teams contributions these past two years. I dont think they ever came to work in the first place. it's the only way to explain this dramatic disparity.

Thousands of degree-holding engineers versus one old guy. Goes to show, getting a degree means nothing in life. The only way to achieve great things is to have passion & love for what you're doing, not a piece of paper saying you memorized words really well (ie. school degree). Hats off to Newey.

Newey proves that in his cars, clearly anyone, even Mazepin, can be a world champion.

[Apexseal157]

The engineers at the other top teams might as well go home

ngl, based on every other teams contributions these past two years. I dont think they ever came to work in the first place. it's the only way to explain this dramatic disparity.

Thousands of degree-holding engineers versus one old guy. Goes to show, getting a degree means nothing in life. The only way to achieve great things is to have passion & love for what you're doing, not a piece of paper saying you memorized words really well (ie. school degree). Hats off to Newey.

Newey proves that in his cars, clearly anyone, even Mazepin, can be a world champion.

This is just so ignorant, firstly no modern car is designed by "one old guy", to then imply that the "Thousands of degree-holding engineers" don't have a "passion & love" for what they're doing, is simply ridiculous and honestly a bit insulting. Finally Mazepin would not have won the world championship in the rb19, considering Perez was only 51 points in front of Hamilton and even an idiot would agree that Perez is vastly better Mazepin

[F1Krof]

I have a hunch that the reason why nobody can match RBR is due to their suspension. They must have found a trick in there.

[AR3-GP]

As yet caught illegal parts.

Rb has suffered from a lot of poaching in the last 2 years. I doubt anything illegal would be able to be kept under wraps.

[AR3-GP]

I have a hunch that the reason why nobody can match RBR is due to their suspension. They must have found a trick in there.

I'm interested in seeing if this carries over to circuits like Canada, Singapore, and Austin. Their car looked composed over the bumps today.

[CHT]

143 laps and topping the timesheet on 1st day of testing for RB20 is certainly impressive. What Marko said about the car reacting to the design philosophy (as proven on track) is a big relief for the team and now the focus is on fine-tuning and getting ready for Bahrain. It will be interesting to see Perez's lap time and his view on RB20. Lets hope there will be closer racing between the 2 this season.