5 lessons from Bahrain Test

2022 Bahrian Test was quite insightful, giving us a glimpse of how the teams are performing and rapidly evolving to come on top of the new regulations. after six days of testing at two different tracks we can begin to sketch the basic outline of the field ahead of next weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, and some undoubted winners and losers are starting to take shape.

Mighty Red Bull at Bahrain Tests

Red Bull Racing and reigning champion Max Verstappen leave Bahrain happiest of all after a mighty final day of testing with a brand-new high-functioning aerodynamic kit.

Verstappen used it to set the test’s fastest time at the very end of the session with a comfortable 0.7-second margin over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc — Mick Schumacher’s interloping time was set during private after-hours testing.

Verstappen’s margin was large enough to make an undeniable statement: Red Bull Racing is the team to beat.

Meredes on back-foot after Bahrain Tests

It’s always a risk to write off Mercedes. The team looked down and out at the end of testing last season but went on to win the first race of the year. By December it had won the constructors championship and had taken Hamilton to within a lap of the drivers title.

But there’s little doubting Mercedes’s troubles this time.

The team brought an aggressive aerodynamic package to Bahrain Test but has struggled to wrap its head around its so-called no-sidepod design, and over three days it failed to solve chronic handling problems that left Lewis Hamilton and George Russell down on the time sheets.

Porpoising — the bouncing up and down of the chassis when aerodynamically loaded at high speed — has been a major issue for Mercedes with its new kit, but the windiness of Bahrain this week made it difficult to dial it out of the car. It also means the team hasn’t established as strong a baseline of performance heading into the first race as it would’ve liked.

Ferrari in good touch

Ferrari hasn’t skipped a beat across the six days of testing, and the F1-75 has impressed the pit lane with each lap set.

There’s likewise no denying the optimism emanating from the Scuderia garages, and even the Italian media, after two years of reporting deeply underwhelming Ferrari performances, is getting behind the 2022 machine.

There hasn’t been a day that either Carlos Sainz or Charles Leclerc hasn’t been near the top of the time sheet — particularly impressive in Bahrain, where the team brought no major update and instead focused on honing what it carried over from Spain.

This is positive on two counts. First, its first concept is clearly competitive, and after six full days of working with it, Ferrari will have a strong understanding of its base strengths and weaknesses. Second, it suggests the team has a strong correlation between the wind tunnel, computer simulation and the track, which hasn’t always been Ferrari’s strong suit.

McLaren troubles in Bahrain Test

McLaren was one of the season’s dark horses after three trouble-free days in Barcelona. Fast-forward to Bahrain and it’s badly on the back foot.

McLaren got its sums wrong on brake cooling for the Bahrain desert, and from the moment it hit the track in Sakhir it struggled with “crispy” brakes that prevented it from undertaking any long running.

The team completed the fewest laps of any team in Bahrain.

Complicating matters further was Daniel Ricciardo’s COVID-19 diagnosis, saddling Norris with all three days of testing.

It’s a blow to the Australian’s sophomore year with McLaren, in which he needs to bounce back from his difficult 2020.

Backmarkers actually looking good

Both Williams and HAAS, the perennial backmarkers of the last few season are looking good.

HAAS had to go through some pain with their title sponsor URALKALI forced to leave. They now have much less money and they let go their Russian driver Nikita Mazepin too. But things turned out for better as got HAAS Alum Kevin Magnussen back in the hot seat. Kevin has a lot of experience with the team and they seem to be in a good mood. The add cherry on the top, Kevin put in the best lap time in the final hours of Day 2. Even Mick Schumacher did a great job, falling just behind Max Verstappen on the final day.

Williams looks in a good form too. Nicholas Latifi managed to get the highest number of laps on the final day. Even Albon seems to have taken to the new car very quickly. It doesn’t look like he was not in F1 last year.

The first race of the season begins this week and we cannot wait to see the 2022 season get started!