Sakhir –
Red Bull Racing appeared dominant in the pre-season test session Formula 1 2023 for three days on February 23-25 in Sakhir, Bahrain. Max Verstappen was optimistic that his team could start the season with positive results.
Red Bull became the fastest on the first day, third day, and also the combined record time. On the first day, Verstappen, who drove the RB19, recorded a time of 1 minute 32.837 seconds.
On the second day, Verstappen took second place with a time of 1 minute 31.650 seconds, 0.04 seconds away from Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) who was at the top. When Sergio Perez taking over the test on the third day, Red Bull was again dominant.
The Mexican racer was at the top with a record time of 1 minute 30.305 seconds, as well as posting the best time for three days. The result is a good capital ahead of the inaugural series which starts next week at the same location.
“The test went well. The performance of our car is also really good. Just did a number of tests that we wanted to apply. Overall I am comfortable driving the car,” said Verstappen, quoted by the BBC.
“This test was positive and we learned a lot, hopefully we can start the race next weekend well and let’s see the results. We are satisfied with our work,” explained the reigning F1 champion.
Hope for Mercedes
A good pre-season test is not only experienced by Red Bull, but also Mercedes. Although not as constant as its rivals, the German manufacturer managed to accelerate on the last day of the test through action Lewis Hamilton. He only lost 0.359 seconds from Perez.
Even though it’s not as fast as Red Bull, Mercedes doesn’t feel it anymore porpoising which hampered their run in the last season. The W14 car is believed to be much better than last year’s car.
“Porpoising it’s not felt. That’s a big step for us. But there are still basic things that we are still working on. There are still balance issues like last year,” said Hamilton.
“We are trying to fix it. Hopefully it can be resolved. We are not at the level we want, but we are in a good position,” explained the seven-time world champion.
(adp/raw)
