The teams seeking urgent answers as F1 testing time runs out

The return of the Dane on a multi-year deal does offer a shot in the arm for Haas, however. A fog seems to have lifted around the team. For example, it’s hard to imagine the squad’s social media accounts posting a video of Mazepin embracing his crew members upon arrival in the garage. It did so with Magnussen. He also provides an experienced benchmark to help better contextualise Schumacher’s speed and will assist the second-year driver in refining the development of the car.

Team principal Gunther Steiner explained his and team owner Gene Haas’s thought process in recalling Magnussen. “I think there are a few advantages having him… he knows the team, he’s well respected. He knows his way around. It’s good for Mick as well to have a reference, because [Magnussen] has been in Formula 1, he did six seasons. All these things came together.

“[Magnussen is] a very down to earth guy. He knows the guys, not to be nice with them, just to be nice. He actually likes them. We all know how Kevin came to Formula 1, the hard way, so he respects everybody working there. The guys enjoy him as a human being, not only as a driver. Obviously, they were very happy.”

Porpoising remains very much an issue for Haas, unlike Alfa, as Magnussen’s head bobbed back and forth for the duration as he belted in for his 46 laps on Friday afternoon and clocked the seventh-best time. That said, the paddock compromise of allowing the team to run for an extra hour on Friday - during which his 1m33.207s lap put him 0.325s quicker than afternoon pace-setter Carlos Sainz Jr's Ferrari - and three more on Saturday, might offer a window in which the team can recover the ground lost to its cargo delays.

Should the amended schedule for Haas pay dividends, it might hope to spend less time in the headlines and more time pounding round the asphalt ahead of a season that has been a long time in the making for the team and its designers. That will only increase the chances of Schumacher and Magnussen mixing it in the cut and thrust of the midfield for last season’s bona fide backmarker. The team believes it has a car with the potential to do just that.

The testing trials and tribulations of Aston Martin and Alpine should not go unnoticed, also.

With Alpine having banked almost 400 laps, there’s been ample opportunity to watch the A522 trackside. Autosport’s observations have at best been mixed

Where Latifi’s dramatic brake fire and subsequent melted suspension grabbed the attention on Friday morning, Williams has looked largely sound and consistent across Spain and Bahrain. Similarly, persistent brake troubles and a sidelined-with-sickness Daniel Ricciardo has only gone so far to hobble McLaren, the team that received raved reviews from Russell after an impressive Barcelona bow for the MCL36.

Comparatively, Aston Martin has been a repeat offender. The car self-immolated on the final morning at Barcelona, which prompted Vettel to vault out and hose the AMR22 in fire extinguisher. Then, following a vibration, another less smoky stoppage hampered the four-time champion on day two on Bahrain’s outer loop. A late issue in the pitlane for Lance Stroll in the final six minutes on Friday again had cause to send the green-clad mechanics running after their stricken machine. These will have stung for Lawrence Stroll’s squad with lofty ambitions.

It's also clear that a switch from a blue hue to the BWT-led pink livery for Friday hasn’t put paid to the maladies for Alpine. Like his old rival Vettel, Fernando Alonso’s car went up in flames in Spain when a hydraulics leak combusted. In the Middle East, it was Esteban Ocon’s turn to ground to a halt. The Hungary GP race winner, who lost time two weeks ago to a broken floor, was to be found at the side of the road on Friday evening. Speculation had it that the car was out of fuel.

Despite twice being the cause of red flags, Alpine has racked up the laps - a useful 264 tours of the Barcelona circuit and a further 125 come the end of play on Friday in Bahrain. In that time, Ocon took his C4 Pirellis to the top of the timing screens by lunchtime with a 1m34.276s. He would then slip back but only to fifth - Stroll, meanwhile, was a lofty third.

However, that promising showing must be considered with the essential testing caveats that fuel loads and engine modes are unknown, to mask true pace.

Further, with Alpine having banked almost 400 laps, there’s been ample opportunity to watch the A522 trackside. Autosport’s observations have at best been mixed. In Spain, the team dispensed with DRS running altogether but was still blighted by porpoising. Additionally, the car appears hesitant to deploy full power as the rear axle has a habit of wiggling and, beyond the increased minimum weight limit, it appears cumbersome through the slower turns. None of these characteristics first identified in Spain seemed to have been eliminated as late as Friday in Bahrain.

The novelty of the shift to ground effect will inevitably wear off as the 2022 season finds its stride. At that point, it is natural to expect teams to converge around an optimal design. And as the cost cap takes more of a hold and levels the playing field somewhat, the ambition is for all teams to have a realistic sniff at a podium when their numbers come up.

In the words of F1 chief technical officer Pat Symonds, the idea is not to strive for randomness but pave the way for everyone to enjoy “their time in the sun”. But it would appear so far that Alfa Romeo and Haas, and then Aston Martin and Alpine, will have the hardest time emerging from the shadows in the immediate future.