F1 LIVE | Intense 3rd and final day of winter testing at Bahrain
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Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz lead the first and second day of winter day respectively, and while these days were hardly anything to go by, it is expected that the third and final day of on-track action provides a slightly better picture of where the teams stack up in the pecking order.
F1 LIVE | Intense 3rd and final day of winter testing at Bahrain
Red Bull upgrades RB21 for intense 3rd day
Red Bull has confirmed it will introduce an upgrade package which was supposed to be implemented at Melbourne for the first Grand Prix of 2025 but instead has decided to introduce it on the third and final day of winter testing for the four-time world champion to get a feel for it, shedding light on who's leading the development of the RB21, in case there was any doubt.
The last day of on-track activity prior to the 2025 F1 season start in Australia is looking like it will be the more intense of the trio of testing days set to take place in Bahrain, as such it will provide a clearer picture, albeit not a definitive one, of the current state of play in F1, and although there are multiple questions regarding the power balance and where it lies, there's only one answer that truly matters: the 2025 season will be awfully close at the top, in the midfield and at the back.
Although McLaren surprised friend and foe yesterday evening with their strong and consistent pace in their race simulation with Lando Norris, their lack of tyre degradation may be attributed to the uncharacteristic cool temperatures in Bahrain, but not entirely. The Woking-based team seem to be slightly ahead of everyone else. However, we are still to see Red Bull Racing's RB21 run the upgrades intended for today.
Ferrari, although strong, is yet to unlock the potential of their car, but seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, seems enthusiastic about his integration process with the car and his team so far, and edging out teammate, Charles Leclerc despite running the morning session against the Monegasque taking the wheel in the afternoon/evening, when track conditions were better, can't hurt his confidence none.
Mercedes finished the day on a rather less inspiring note with George Russell and rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli being eeked out by the Ferrari pair by over four-tenths. Of course, it's still early days, but Mercedes' strength has usually been performing in low cool temperatures, and seeing how the Mercedes drivers struggled to get the pace out of their car, it may mean that they've found a balance, whether that is good for the German team performance-wise or not, it is not yet known.
Winter testing in Bahrain
Being the final year of the very complex ground effect regulations, teams are forced into a critical balancing act: how much of their resources will they allocate to the development of their 2025 cars? And, perhaps even more importantly: when will they shift focus entirely to next year's car?
An early start doesn't always guarantee success, seeing as Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari all switched their attention to the ground effect cars ahead of time in 2021 and neither of them was able to fight for the title in the two seasons that followed. A late switch isn't always detrimental, one need only ask Red Bull Racing, up until 2024 the dominant force in F1.
During the three days of running in the Middle-Eastern circuit teams and drivers will focus on making sure they have a correlation between their simulation tools and the actual performance on the track, learning as much as they can of their cars and their operating window, how well the systems work, the reliability, their tyre degradation levels, and they will, of course, try as many set-up variations as they can.
Come Australia cars may look very different
How is this possible? With testing being so limited as it is in F1 due to the high costs testing represents, teams use the data provided by the three days of winter running to confirm what they believe their cars' strengths and weaknesses will be, and in the two remaining two weeks they will finish honing the parts they've already had in development, even prior to the days of testing. That's the level of foresight and preparation Formula 1 teams have in order to attain their outlined goals.
Though there seems to be very little at stake, winter testing usually paints a decent picture of where the teams are in the pecking order. However, human nature will frequently be the tell-tale sign of an F1 outfit's condition ahead of the season's start. Plenty of smiles and relaxed and confident attitudes are dead giveaways of performance, whereas lots of time spent in the garage instead of the track, possibly behind the curtains even, and worried faces, are often signs of troubled times ahead.
Results of the second day of Winter testing
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