AAfter weeks of drama that saw the sporting agenda pushed to the side, Formula 1 is finally putting some wheels in motion in Bahrain and, interestingly, it suggests that the same gripping spectacle could be on the track.
As the team begins operations for the 2024 season, Red Bull is expected to make a triumphant return after experiencing turmoil surrounding the team and the ongoing turmoil in the context of Bahrain.
Instead, they were overtaken by a surprisingly quick Mercedes in the hands of Lewis Hamilton, as he took the lead on the first day of the new season.
Christian Horner supervised his Red Bull Racing team from the pit wall for the first time since an investigation into alleged misconduct ended on Wednesday, with a female employee’s complaint dismissed and Horner cleared. Last week’s testing showed Red Bull have built another rocket ship, with them three-tenths ahead in the race pace simulation and it’s assumed they will once again enjoy a huge advantage when the gloves come off in Bahrain.
Of course, Horner would certainly welcome the focus on lap time analysis and running plans. However, as Red Bull labored in the desert, the timing screens offered no comfort.
Practice was only the first race of the weekend, but it was an unexpected start that will no doubt be welcome for Mercedes, whose cars have proven to be very capable over the past two seasons. Hard to control and hard to keep up with, just starts with a feeling of frustration. Hamilton, who will leave Mercedes for Ferrari next season, has spent two years complaining about his uncompetitive cars and battling cars that were less recalcitrant than spiteful, but on Thursday he enjoyed what was hoped for positivity. ’s start.
He was fastest in the night run of second practice, enjoying a one-two with Mercedes team-mate George Russell who was two tenths behind, with Verstappen nearly half a second adrift. , ranked sixth.
This is far from what was expected and doesn’t exactly fit into Bahrain’s narrative so far. There are 10 teams in the paddock for the first race of the season, but one could sometimes be forgiven for thinking there’s just one. Red Bull Hospitality is always packed outside, with TV crews and media like an army encamped around the island, their focus all week.
The action was expected to distract from the anger surrounding the squad, which they hoped would be alleviated after the charges against Horner were dismissed, but information allegedly used in the investigation was removed midway through the meeting leaked. .
While speculation and speculation once again abounded in the paddock, Mercedes stole the show and offered a glimmer of hope that the year might not end the way many expected it to.
Newsletter Promotion Post
Mercedes has brought a completely new car design for 2024, abandoning a design that had dogged them for two years and proved impossible to refine into a winning formula. They declared it unfit for use as early as the first game of the 2023 season, but it took them an angry 12 months to get the successor on track.
There is cautious optimism after good testing. Under the floodlights in Bahrain, the ability to simply push the car forward, and the ability to drive through corners with confidence that had long been lacking, was on full display.Hamilton speeding around the track joy of life old.
It would be imprudent to read too much into this, and the gloves won’t really come off until Friday’s qualifying session, when fuel loads drop and engine modes go up.
However, this was the only race before qualifying to be run in the same nighttime conditions as Friday, so there was no requirement to use sandbags. In fact, Verstappen was unhappy with the car’s balance during morning practice and angrily denounced its performance to the team. In the past, they’ve worked on this in the early days of the race to fine-tune it when it’s critical for a lap, but regardless, the team is focused overnight.
Red Bull had hoped to be able to resume normal service in a number of ways when the cars hit the track, but for now at least Mercedes are in the lead and look like they may be back in the spotlight themselves.
