What each team must escape in testing to avoid setting off alarm bells

By:

Matt Kew

Feb 22, 2023, 4:37 PM

As Formula 1 testing gets underway in Bahrain on Thursday, eagle-eyed observers will be keenly analysing the traits of every car. Here's what each team would be well-advised to avoid to ensure they don't head into the opening round on the back foot

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As ever, it won’t be until qualifying for the Formula 1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix that the true competitive order for 2023 fully reveals itself. Differing fuel loads, engine modes, tyre ages and good old lifting-and-coasting will be sure to obscure the lap times during the three days of testing at the Middle Eastern circuit this week.

But there will still be plenty of gauges by which to measure the early credentials of the 10 new cars. Bahrain’s blend of corner speeds and camber changes will help expose unwieldy chassis while the climate will push marginal powertrain and brake cooling that brings about unreliability. Meanwhile, the crop of full-time rookies and those returning from stints on the sidelines will raise eyebrows should they induce a red flag or two.

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Matt Kew

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Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.