Should tyre degradation still be an issue on Sunday, it could be one of the first major tests of new team principal Fred Vasseur’s leadership. The true potential of the W14 and SF-23 will be unveiled at the weekend but Ferrari fans will be hoping the winter’s reshuffles and restructurings will pay off. The key concerns about the Scuderia’s SF-23 are not pace but tyre-eating tendencies, while a sudden desertion of downforce followed by a hydraulics failure on George Russell’s W14 set Mercedes back. Meanwhile, Ferrari and Mercedes weren’t quite so faultless. It topped the timesheets on Days 1 and 3 through Verstappen and Sergio Perez, who were driving as if on rails. Red Bull’s minor overspend breach of the 2021 cost cap is not expected to bite them until later in the season, with the RB19 being an evolution of last year’s title-winning car looking just as dominant in testing. Once again, the pressure to do so falls on Ferrari and Mercedes. A double DNF left them with a 44-point deficit to a flying Ferrari, as Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished 1-2 and took the fastest lap to boot.įew would have predicted Verstappen’s Championship-winning 146-point margin at that stage – and it represents a daunting chasm to close. The 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix was the scene of a reliability nightmare for Red Bull. But going into the longest F1 season of all time, there’s time for a twist or two.Ĭharles Leclerc was the winner in Bahrain 12 months ago but is the SF-23 capable of another perfect start? What of Mercedes’ comeback attempt, and who has a headstart in the midfield? Let’s set the scene for Race 1, under the lights in Bahrain… The Big Three will reveal their true pace Reigning champion Max Verstappen will begin his title defence, aiming for back-to-back-to-back Championships with a Red Bull team that has shown no signs of releasing their grip on the series. The 2023 curtain-raiser at Sakhir, the 19th edition of the Bahrain Grand Prix follows a fascinating three-day test on the same circuit – offering some important clues to the performance of each car. No more hiding, secret-keeping and guess-work: the season in here and the Bahrain Grand Prix is about to answer the questions we’ve spent a winter pondering.
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