Bahrain testing 2025: lessons from the road

[f1316]

Thank God the commentary team has changed and we don't have Crofty any more - bad enough at the best of times but when he's trying to fill air for hours on end...

[organic]

We should go back to Barcelona

[dren]

We should go back to Barcelona

Agreed, but isn't it a bit too cold this time of year?

[Mansell89]

Thank God the commentary team has changed and we don't have Crofty any more - bad enough at the best of times but when he's trying to fill air for hours on end...

Couldn’t agree more. Cringeworthy attempts at humour. He’s a guy who knows nothing about F1 that’s why he reverts to class clown mode to hide it.


Unfortunately I’m not sure there’s a top class lead commentator in waiting. I like Alex Brundle though as at least a future co-commentator.

[Vinyl Lap]

I must admit I cringed when he was trying to explain the sheer amount of data a modern F1 car produces. He said something along the lines of "all those terabytes and it still couldn't have predicted Abu Dhabi '21!". I mean, come on. Yeah, that was a very odd moment in F1 history to say the very least, but let's try and move on!

And talking of moving on I would very much like Harry Benjamin permanently for now. Much less shouty. But if I could pick a commentator I wouldn't look any further than Ben Edwards. Such a decent commentator...

[langedweil]

Laps per team:
HAA 160
RBU 154
MER 148
FER 141
ALP 140
RBR 132
WIL 131
MCL 118
SAU 114
AMR 88

Laps per driver:
OCO 88
TSU 78
ANT 78
HAD 76
VER 74
GAS 72
BEA 72
LEC 71
RUS 70
HAM 70
SAI 68
DOO 68
PIA 66
ALB 63
BOR 59
LAW 58
HUL 55
NOR 52
ALO 46
STR 42

[Vaexa]

My main takeaway from day 1 is that I still really hate listening to Sam Collins pretending to know how a racecar works.

The reliability waffle on the literal first day of testing was bizarre.

[101FlyingDutchman]

Main takeaway looking at the C3 fastest time and run stint after. RB and MCL looking very good. Great long run pace with little deg on both. Ferrari harder to read. MB is fast but relatively more deg and certainly a decent chunk behind RB and MCL in a comparable stint. Sneaky feeling that the AM is pretty decent and may well have closed the gap to at least MB.
Lets see if those same impressions last when reading the tea leaves tomorrow

[stephen]

McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes are already looking sharp and well-balanced, showing impressive consistency over long runs.

[JPower]

Outside of the top 4 which look "as expected", impressed by Williams. The car looks well-balanced and quick.

Interested to see if Aston can put in some serious lap count tomorrow. Hard to judge their day.

[organic]

McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes are already looking sharp and well-balanced, showing impressive consistency over long runs.

In what universe is Mercedes currently "showing impressive consistency over long runs"? I don't see that in the data

Federico Albano graph

[FittingMechanics]

My main takeaway from day 1 is that I still really hate listening to Sam Collins pretending to know how a racecar works.

The reliability waffle on the literal first day of testing was bizarre.

I used to think he was alright, before he got his spotlight but now he seems quite biased and often times strangely uninformed.

[McLarenHonda]

This guy keeps track of every long run of every driver! Here’s a file of his with every single timed lap of every driver plus top speeds for analysis.

[dren]

McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes are already looking sharp and well-balanced, showing impressive consistency over long runs.

In what universe is Mercedes currently "showing impressive consistency over long runs"? I don't see that in the data

Federico Albano graph

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GkvFWYyXgAA ... &name=orig

Mercs lap times show impressive consistency in how they increase lap by lap.

[Earnard Beccelstone]

Looking at the 'body language' of the cars, the thing that stuck out to me most was how poorly the Alpine responded after hitting curbs and bumps.

It appeared really stiff and bouncy, and the oscillation period before the car settled was substantially more pronounced than most other cars. The Ferrari also looked really stiff, but didn't appear to be unsettled like the Alpine was.