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

[De Wet]

I predict Alonso win in Bahrain.
You heard it here first.

I Predict a Lando Win...

[AR3-GP]

I predict a Sargeant win.

[Big Tea]

I predict a riot

[AR3-GP]

Did I miss the memo that the first two GP are being run on Saturday?

[organic]

Did I miss the memo that the first two GP are being run on Saturday?

Yes it's due to Ramadan

[AR3-GP]

Did I miss the memo that the first two GP are being run on Saturday?

Yes it's due to Ramadan

Unfortunate because the WEC round at Qatar is on Mar 2nd as well. That may well be the more competitive race...

[organic]

Team colours for 2024 broadcast

[Sevach]

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 fall here, i expect Ferrari, Mercedes and AMR to have cars capable of beating a RB19 but not by a lot.
It's possible that only some of them will have better than RB19 performance.

How much improvement the RB20 brings is a question mark.

[mendis]

Team colours for 2024 broadcast
https://i.redd.it/63g1wrn3ipjc1.png

They really need to call that team anything other than "RB".

[SiLo]

Did I miss the memo that the first two GP are being run on Saturday?

Yes it's due to Ramadan

To expand, it's Ramadan AND the rules that state there must be a minimum of 7 days between Grand Prix. So because SA has to be run on the Saturday, Bahrain has also been forced forward a day as well.

[djones]

Mercedes managed to finish second with a fundamentally flawed car.

If those flaws are fixed (likely) I suspect we are going to see Redbull and Mercedes comfortably ahead of teams like Aston, Ferrari and McLaren. Redbull ahead, but the pair in a different league than the rest.

[De Wet]

Mercedes managed to finish second with a fundamentally flawed car.

If those flaws are fixed (likely) I suspect we are going to see Redbull and Mercedes comfortably ahead of teams like Aston, Ferrari and McLaren. Redbull ahead, but the pair in a different league than the rest.

[Cs98]

Mercedes managed to finish second with a fundamentally flawed car.

If those flaws are fixed (likely) I suspect we are going to see Redbull and Mercedes comfortably ahead of teams like Aston, Ferrari and McLaren. Redbull ahead, but the pair in a different league than the rest.

I mean, Ferrari also had a fundamentally flawed car. Inconsistent downforce, bad deg, poor reliability (relative to Merc). If they fix some of that and add a bit of performance I see no reason why Ferrari can't take a similar step to Merc.

[CouncilorIrissa]

Mercedes managed to finish second with a fundamentally flawed car.

If those flaws are fixed (likely) I suspect we are going to see Redbull and Mercedes comfortably ahead of teams like Aston, Ferrari and McLaren. Redbull ahead, but the pair in a different league than the rest.

I mean, Ferrari also had a fundamentally flawed car. Inconsistent downforce, bad deg, poor reliability (relative to Merc). If they fix some of that and add a bit of performance I see no reason why Ferrari can't take a similar step to Merc.

I'd go as far as saying that Ferrari was even more flawed. Performance swings between qualifying and race were absolutely ridiculous.

[Quantum]

Mercedes managed to finish second with a fundamentally flawed car.

If those flaws are fixed (likely) I suspect we are going to see Redbull and Mercedes comfortably ahead of teams like Aston, Ferrari and McLaren. Redbull ahead, but the pair in a different league than the rest.

Agree with most of this. Aston went backwards as the season progressed, despite having a good platform they really should've beaten Merc. Ferrari were far less compromised than Mercedes and still fumbled. Almost as if they didnt know why they were fast or slow. Merc at least knew their problem was baked in and wouldn't be a quick fix.
McLaren though I suspect might be as fast as Mercedes if their progress hasn't hit any stumbling blocks.
Merc will need to hit the ground running, but if they have ironed out their major flaws it could make a relative gain vs the pack behind. Red Bull likely way ahead still. Should be interesting to monitor the different cars behaviour over the next few days