What we learned on day two of F1 testing in Bahrain

The second day of 2023 Formula 1 pre-season testing revealed one thing conclusively at the Bahrain International Circuit: the new machines are already faster than their predecessors, the first cars of the championship’s new ground-effects era.

But it wasn’t a typical big hitter that came away with the leading time on day two of the desert action on Friday – instead the leading lap was completed by Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu. His 1m31.610s came during a flying effort with just 30 minutes of the day left to run and deposed long-time second-session-leader Max Verstappen.

PLUS: What watching trackside in Bahrain indicates about F1 2023

The world champion took over from team-mate Sergio Perez for the day’s afternoon/twilight running and again looked supreme. Not only was he lapping quickly, Red Bull’s car looked poised and calm in Verstappen’s hands as he completed 47 laps to give his team a whole day total of 123. Verstappen is now set to sit out the final day as per Red Bull’s testing seat time split in 2023.

The Dutchman’s best of 1m31.650s was set on just his second outing from the garage on the C3 tyres – part of three runs on apparently lower fuel given he lapped around five seconds slower each time by for the rest of the day.

That quicker time deposed first session pacesetter Carlos Sainz of Ferrari. His 1m32.486s on the C3s led the way during the running in the hottest – and therefore worst – conditions of the day.

Charles Leclerc took over for the Scuderia during the afternoon and he ended up with the eighth fastest time as, like Red Bull, the red team eschewed the softer tyres used by Zhou, Nyck de Vries and Nico Hulkenberg (fourth and fifth for AlphaTauri and Haas respectively overall on Friday) in the cooler, better evening running.

It is thought that Ferrari has so far has been performing better down the Bahrain straights compared to Red Bull – a big boost given the focus on the team’s engine output and if it could return to running at the top levels it managed early in 2022 before its various in-race failures last year. But, at the same time, differing engine modes could well be playing a part in this given straightline prowess was a notable Red Bull strength last year.

Ferrari may have the power advantage over Red Bull so far, but how much is the world champion holding in reserve with its engine modes?

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Despite Verstappen’s solid progress, it wasn’t totally smooth sailing for Red Bull on Friday, however, as Perez’s first taste of the RB19 did not appear all that comfortable as he pounded around mainly completing long-run data-gathering in the morning sun.

The Mexican driver was regularly locking up and missing the apex at Turn 10 – the second part of the double apex complex with the preceding downhill Turn 9 left that in total feeds onto the Bahrain track’s back straight.

Perez’s lines were rather inconsistent as he lapped on the hard C2s, which suggests he was struggling to hold onto the rear of the car as it squirmed out of Turn 9 and then in turn he found it hard to get the nose in as ideally required for Turn 10. Plus, he was much later on the power on exit compared to most and this hints at a likely heavy fuel load.

“I think we will be going into the first race off of our projected targets, but it is hard to really know where that means [regarding where] we will be on the grid” Zak Brown

But, while that strays in the realm of speculation, it’s now fact – thanks initially to Verstappen’s best effort and then Zhou’s late performance run – that the 2023 machines are already lapping quicker than in 2022 despite the changes to raise the rear floor edges and diffuser heights to try and eliminate porpoising for this season.

It took Verstappen just until that early running of day two’s second session before he beat his own overall quickest time from Bahrain testing in 2022, which was a 1m31.720s set on the final day and using the C5 tyres. Zhou’s overall benchmark so far is 0.11s up on that 2022 leading lap.

But, although Zhou and a few others used the softer Pirelli tyres on Friday – the Alfa’s best time of the day set using the new-construction C5s – the teams are expected to only really begin exploring pure performance runs with more efforts on the red-walled rubber during the final session on Saturday.

Then, conditions will match the qualifying and race sessions for next weekend’s season opener. And at this point it will become clearer how much time the teams have really gained with a whole year of development on the new ground-effects cars.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown says his team "didn't hit" its design goals for the 2023 car as testing continues to reveal struggles

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Autosport had spotted Perez’s struggles with a trackside trip to Turns 9 and 10 during the opening session. But, back then, another car was also having a fair bit of trouble at the same spot – the McLaren MCL60 with Lando Norris aboard.

After not really troubling the top of the times on day one, the orange team’s launch event pessimism regarding its 2023 potential took on an altogether more alarming meaning when McLaren boss Zak Brown admitted his team “didn't hit” its design development goals for its new car.

“We felt it was better to be honest about that,” Brown said during the lunchbreak press conference, where even a body language novice could’ve spotted his downcast demeanour. It has been suggested the atmosphere at McLaren isn’t all that hopeful of 2023 success – with new signing Oscar Piastri also notably tight-lipped during his press conference appearance ahead of his boss.

But, as Brown pointed out: “Like everyone, we have a lot of development coming. So, we are encouraged by what we see around the corner. I think we will be going into the first race off of our projected targets, but it is hard to really know where that means [regarding where] we will be on the grid.”

Likely compounding McLaren unhappiness is the suggestion that Aston Martin is looking rather strong in the midfield battle so far, with Fernando Alonso using the C3s to jump up to third 0.555s behind Verstappen (0.595s adrift of Zhou) late-on.

The mood in the green camp, despite the obvious concern at Lance Stroll possibly missing the Bahrain race and the complication that adds at the need to get Felipe Drugovich up to speed while Alonso could be learning even more about his new team and package with additional testing running, is said to be quietly content.

Aston has declared that Drugovich will get back aboard the AMR23 on Saturday morning, which at least gives him a chunk more running should Stroll’s mountain bike wrist injury indeed force him out of the season opener next weekend.

Alonso has been "smooth and consistent" in the new Aston Martin as he tallied up 130 laps on Thursday

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Alonso will therefore get to run next in the expected day three evening performance run shootout, after racking up a 130-lap total on Thursday. The Spaniard’s lines through Turns 9 and 10 in the morning appeared consistent and smooth, plus his end-of-day pace added up to another solid day on-track for Aston.

The same couldn’t be said of Mercedes. In the morning running, Lewis Hamilton languished in eighth (15th by the day’s end) in the times with his car “out of balance” and sliding – not set-up ideally for the hotter conditions per team boss Toto Wolff.

But the bigger problem for the Black Arrows squad occurred with 90 minutes of the evening session remaining, when George Russell stopped on the back straight due to an issue with the W14’s hydraulics. This led to a lengthy red flag as the car was recovered – the second real stoppage of the whole test after day two’s morning running was briefly interrupted by reds that were only flying ahead of a planned start procedure test that all the teams took part in.

This exercise was repeated at the day’s conclusion, after Zhou had to be recovered from the end of the pitlane by the Alfa mechanics and brought an end to his own huge 133-lap mileage haul. Russell did not reappear after his stoppage, with the issue a cause for concern for Mercedes given reliability was one of the W13’s few strengths in 2022. But during the lunch break Russell had at least been able to explain how, in two important ways, things were looking better for his squad compared to this time a year ago.

Once again on Friday, porpoising was a discussion point, with Toto Wolff saying it “is gone essentially” on the W14 – a year on from the phenomenon plaguing Mercedes at this venue and on into the real campaign

First of all, he confirmed it had achieved its target on car handling that means corner entry “phase [feel] has been improved”. At the same time, Russell says the W14’s mid-corner balance is now an issue, but he reckons this is “a good problem to have” because “that is probably easier to solve than what we had last year” and “in terms of feeling, it feels a step in the right direction”.

In other off-track news, it was revealed on Thursday that Haas is expected to save $250,000 in freight costs this year by halving the size of its pitwall structure from six to three seats “to make efficiency”, per team boss Gunther Steiner now that it is operating at the cost cap limit with new title sponsor MoneyGram.

With Haas now up against the cap, it would rather spend as much of the extra money provided by its new branding deal on car development.

Haas' new, smaller pitwall structure was as much of a talking point for the team as its new car on day two in Bahrain

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Another team that will operate at the 2023 cap level is Williams, as revealed by new team principal James Vowles during his first appearance representing the Grove-based squad in front of the media.

In the press conference, Vowles was asked to outline his priority for making changes at his new squad, which he explained was “number one [to] put in place a proper set of structures, in terms of technical director, head of aero” following the departure of Francois-Xavier Demaison alongside former team boss Jost Capito last December.

“That's number one, because clearly an organisation needs those to move forward," Vowles explained, his team enjoying time in the spotlight in the morning session when Logan Sargeant set the second-best time using the soft C4 tyres. That slipped to the seventh best in the cooler afternoon running where Sargeant got up to a chart-topping 154-laps for a single driver.

Once again on Friday, porpoising was a discussion point, with Wolff saying it “is gone essentially” on the W14 – a year on from the phenomenon plaguing Mercedes at this venue and on into the real campaign.

There was also speculation about it possibly reoccurring at other squads this year given running on the first day showed several cars bouncing alarmingly at the end of the main straight and through the Turn 12 fast right-hander at the end of the final sector.

PLUS: Has F1's porpoising problem been eradicated in the 2023 cars?

This was being exacerbated by two significant track surface bumps in those areas unsettling the super-stiff ground-effects machines, but it was revealed on Friday that some teams – including, it is understood, Ferrari, with the red car shifting worst of all on Thursday – have actually been setting their cars in extreme arrangements to check where porpoising can occur.

While porpoising may be all but gone for Mercedes, Russell's late stoppage on Friday was far from ideal for the Black Arrows

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

This is also being done to understand how to avoid it come the racing season and having to waste time or performance dialling it out.

“[With] the amount of scaling [set-up work] that you can do during testing, you can test things that you are normally not going to do at a race weekend,” explained Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. “So, if we want, we can make the car having porpoising. If we don't want [that] we can make the car very comfortable. So, not an issue.”

With performance runs expected to close out testing in Bahrain on Saturday, it seems 2022’s big buzzword may finally take a back seat ahead of F1’s new racing season starting.

Who will end testing with the biggest smile on Saturday?

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images