How Red Bull seized F1 2021's testing narrative, as Mercedes' bulletproof image shatters

Formula 1 is back – but the first day of 2021 pre-season testing at Bahrain proved to be a little different than the recent entries in the historical formbook.

For a start, the test is being held in the Middle East and not the usual Barcelona venue as a result of the 2021 calendar starting in Bahrain thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic’s continued impact on regular sporting schedules. But there is some merit to the argument for a track in this region to always host pre-season testing given the sometimes unpredictable weather in Europe at this time of year.

The events of Friday somewhat showed that argument up, however, as a sandstorm rolled in over the one-hour lunchbreak. Fortunately, this didn’t really dampen the teams' appetite for running (hardly surprising given the 50% reduction in testing time compared to 2020), but it meant for a fair few slips and slides. Conditions were more along the lines of a wet track offline, with the sand billowing along in the cars’ various wakes – at times appearing to mimic the scenes of catastrophic engine failure. That didn’t happen, but the strong wind in Bahrain again caught out the unaware, while the day/dusk timetable meant conditions (and therefore times) varied throughout the opening eight hours.

Autosport was glued to the timing screens throughout the first day, logging every lap in a bid to understand how things played out up and down the grid. As ever at this time of year, the times are ultimately meaningless (with the long run averages calculated by removing the anomalous times from each run and the best stint on each compound making the cut for each team), as fuel loads and sandbagging mean the true picture will be kept under wraps until qualifying here for the season opener.

But, despite these typical testing caveats, we learned a lot from the opening day’s action in Bahrain.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Red Bull kept its momentum up from 2020 Abu Dhabi victory

Things looked to be a handful early on for Max Verstappen, but he ended the day on top of the overall times and with good long run average pace.

Verstappen was able to do lengthy stints on the C2 tyres in the morning and then again after the break, before switching to do likewise on the softer C3s. That was impressive given the lunchtime sandstorm effectively meant it was like wet conditions offline, even creating wash waves as the cars moved off the racing line.

It was concerning to see Verstappen half-spin all by himself in much the same manner as in 2020 pre-season during the morning running, with a loose rear end, but team boss Christian Horner had an explanation.

“I think it was just a gust of wind,” he said when asked about the incident by Autosport. “The track conditions have been pretty tricky out there. Max reported he’s reasonably happy with the car. There’s obviously areas to tune, but no fundamental [problems].”

"We had a target in terms of the number of laps we wanted to get through and a fairly busy run plan and we were able to stick to both. Laptime is not what it’s about at this stage and I don’t think Max will be getting too pumped up about being at the top of the timesheet on day one" Guillaume Rocquelin

That is plausible given the place where Verstappen spun caught out several drivers throughout the 2020 races in Bahrain, and it was a very windy and unpredictable day on Friday. Plus, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo explained how the floor rule changes mean the drivers have to be even more careful putting the power down, which is what Verstappen was doing when he spun.

“Today went well,” said Red Bull’s head of race engineering Guillaume Rocquelin. “The conditions were pretty difficult and very windy, especially in the morning. It calmed down a bit in the afternoon but a lot of dust had been kicked up and it was very hazy and quite difficult to run in.

“In terms of objectives we’re really pleased, as we had a target in terms of the number of laps we wanted to get through and a fairly busy run plan and we were able to stick to both. Laptime is not what it’s about at this stage and I don’t think Max will be getting too pumped up about being at the top of the timesheet on day one. What’s more important is that we were able to follow the plan and do the laps.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull 2021 Bahrain F1 test

Photo by: Joe Portlock/Getty Images

“For Sergio [Perez] tomorrow, the conditions should hopefully be a little better. It’s not supposed to be quite as hazy, but the wind is likely to still be quite strong. The plan will be pretty much the same for Checo, so fingers crossed we’re looking forward to another good day.”

Overall fastest times on day 1

Mercedes endures a very uncharacteristic day

Mercedes is usually bulletproof from the off in testing, but this year it was in trouble immediately as Valtteri Bottas encountered a gearshift problem on his out lap. This cost Mercedes most of the morning as it worked on the issue that Toto Wolff said “came out of nowhere”, and Bottas could only do aero rig data-gathering when he did then get out just before the first session ended.

The knock-on effect of these repairs and detaching the aero rake (never a fast job) meant Lewis Hamilton was late out in the second session. When you add up all the time Mercedes spent off track, it was pushing five hours in total - a disaster given how little testing there is in 2021 and that Red Bull ran faultlessly throughout.

In the afternoon, Hamilton gradually built up his pace, but ended up a long way adrift overall. Plus, things looked scrappy for the world champion, and not necessarily as fast as things were for Verstappen. Hamilton generally did not seem happy with the balance and handling, locking up and going off several times.

"It's been a poor start to the season from us today,” said Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin. "Once we got running it was clear we didn't have the car in the right balance window and, while we made some progress during the day, we're not happy with how the car is performing and it's pretty clear we have some work to do.

“We're quite a way behind on our test programme and need to find a bit of balance and speed but we have two days left and every opportunity to recover the situation."

Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari 2021 Bahrain F1 test

Photo by: Ferrari

Ferrari makes an encouraging start, but there’s no clear power recovery

Ferrari may have fallen out of F1’s ‘Class A’ last year, but everyone wants to know if it can get straight back there with a new engine. The answer remains, 'probably not', but this was an encouraging first day for the Italian team.

Ferrari may not have been able to match Red Bull's ultimate pace of the day, but its long run average was impressive. Analysing these times is fraught with peril given the differing fuel loads between the cars - and even within teams depending on the time of day - but Ferrari was closer to Red Bull than the rest in terms of how many laps it completed on its best average runs on both the C2 and C3 tyres.

"The first impression of the car is pretty good. But, obviously, it’s far too early to give a full assessment" Charles Leclerc

But, at no point during the day did the team get anywhere near the best speed trap figures. So, unless it’s turning its engine down deliberately (which seems unlikely, but can't be ruled out) that suggests Ferrari is still lacking compared to the other manufacturers.

The team’s main negative note was causing the first red flag of testing due to Charles Leclerc being told to "park the car at the side of the track because of an anomaly with the combustion spotted on the telemetry" just before the first session ended.

"We completed the whole programme without any major problems and the first impression of the car is pretty good,” said Leclerc. “But, obviously, it’s far too early to give a full assessment."

C2 average order

Why almost all midfield teams have reasons to be happy

Unlike its new (well, old really given its history with Mercedes) engine supplier, McLaren made an excellent start to testing by running long and fast. Lando Norris ended up second in the overall times and McLaren looked to be very competitive in the C2 averages (above) – albeit on the shortest stint length of the best stints from all the teams on those tyres.

McLaren’s executive director Andrea Stella said: "We didn’t have any major issues today, only small things to fix here and there which is normal on the first day running a new car. But it’s only day one, and we’ll keep monitoring as we accumulate mileage on the car."

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Alpine was third fastest overall, but it did get there on the softer C4 tyres, which should encourage Aston Martin and Ferrari behind. Esteban Ocon also led the way in the C3 averages (below) – although, like with McLaren’s C2 average, he did so with the shortest stint length of the best stints from all the teams on that rubber.

A sidenote on the C3s is that Pirelli has brought an unmarked prototype version of this compound to the test, which is identical to the regular C3 rubber except that it is manufactured in the company’s Turkish factory and not in Romania like the rest. Pirelli is simply gathering data to compare the results.

"It was a solid one for the team, we completed the programme with ease and we even had time at the end of the day to do pitstop practice with the team, which was quite nice as it meant we could get ourselves back into race situations,” said Ocon.

“We faced all kinds of conditions as well: heat this morning then strong gusts and a sandstorm this afternoon, so pretty much everything except rain. That was interesting but we did what we needed to."

C3 average order

Aston Martin had more of a mixed day, but Lance Stroll's C3P run later in the afternoon was nicely competitive and the team looked to be doing its long run simulations on the C3s on higher fuel than its rivals.

But Aston did have reliability gremlins, with Sebastian Vettel needing to be recovered from a pitlane stoppage in the morning, and Stroll's appearance in the afternoon being delayed by an electrical issue. Vettel also had a lot to learn about his new car.

“I'm working with a different power unit compared to the past, which means there are lots of new procedures involved,” he explained. “Then there's a new steering wheel with all its buttons, and different braking too - so I'm very aware that there is a lot to learn.

“The important thing is that I know where we can improve. It was tricky on track because it was so windy out there; you could see that everyone was fighting for grip.”

Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

AlphaTauri slid down the overall order in the afternoon, but Pierre Gasly was second fastest at the end of the first session, when temperatures were hottest. The team looked to be going well in the long-run averages, as it nearly matched McLaren's fastest run on an identical stint length on the C2s, and again looked to be very competitive on the C3s. Yuki Tsunoda’s afternoon running was marred by a problem detected in the car’s fuel system.

“[The fuel system issue was] impacting most of [Tsunoda's] laps and meant we couldn’t give him any consistent runs,” said AlphaTauri’s chief race engineer Jonathan Eddolls.

“The session was quite compromised for him, which is a shame, but we stopped running before the chequered flag, so we could investigate the problem and fix it ahead of his running first thing tomorrow.”

Alfa Romeo was another team that had a mixed day on pace. Antonio Giovinazzi showed strong form over a single lap as the day wore on and set comparable long run-pace on the C3s with Alpine. Alfa’s C2 pace looked be down compared to the rest, but it did at least set its best run on this rubber over a healthy stint length - up there with Red Bull and Ferrari.

Mazepin did not set very fast one-lap efforts and he ended up well down the order in the long runs on both the C2 and C3s

Haas had a trying day, as Mick Schumacher missed most of the morning session due to a hydraulic issue cropping up after his initial laps, and the team then opted to change the gearbox on its car. But, in the afternoon, Nikita Mazepin was able to log plenty of laps without issue, other than a spin when he went too wide entering the rapid left of Turn 11, at the end of the track’s back straight. But Mazepin did not set very fast one-lap efforts and he ended up well down the order in the long runs on both the C2 and C3s.

Williams gave a third of its testing to support driver Roy Nissany, who spent most of the morning session doing very short stints of push laps followed by cool-down tours, with several runs using different aero rakes later in that session.

Nissany completed more regular running in the afternoon, and kept Williams in touch with its 2020 'Class C' rivals in the overall order and in the C2 and C3 averages. The team plans to test different performance parts when Nicholas Latifi takes over on Saturday.

Roy Nissany, Development Driver, Williams FW43B

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images