Hello, welcome to a pilot edition of This Week, we used the test to experiment with the format for race weekends. We will round up the week’s news and the first test, bringing you reaction to the unfolding situation in Ukraine and the on-going response of the sport.
Time retrains means we have not included every team, but the main headlines and analysis from the leading teams and the top stories of the week. we write this Monday – Friday and publish this on a Sunday, obviously, the situation is changing quickly and was correct at the time of uploading.
Overview of testing
Lando Norris set the pace on the opening day with him going almost seven-tenths faster than the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Leclerc was a quarter of a second ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz and three and a half tenths ahead of the two Mercedes. Ferrari was fast, by the most important thing reliable completing the most laps of any team. Day one saw no red flags on
Leclerc set the pace on the second day of testing, the Monacan was two tenths faster than the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly with the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo third fastest. Ricciardo had topped the times for most of the day, after setting his fastest time in the morning session before Leclerc put in the first real challenge with less than ninety minutes to go.
Mercedes topped the times on the final day, Lewis Hamilton going a tenth faster than George Russell, the team having a gap of four-tenths over Red Bull, although Perez and Verstappen were on the theatrically faster tyres. Perez was four-tenths off Hamilton’s fastest time and had two tenths ahead of Verstappen.
It is always worth noting the normal caveats, lap times in pre-season testing are notoriously unreliable as indicators of true competitiveness as fuel loads, engine modes, track conditions and other factors can all have a dramatic effect on performance.
Ukraine Invasion
In the early hours of Thursday, Russia started an invasion of Eastern Ukraine within hours an emergency meeting of the F1 Commission was called to discuss the unfolding crisis in the country.
On Thursday F1 put out a statement saying that it was “closely watching the very fluid developments” in Ukraine, and “will continue to monitor the situation”. In a press conference in Barcelona on Thursday, GPDA director Sebastian Vettel made it clear that he will not race in Russia.
The race was cancelled on Friday morning, with the sport saying it was “impossible to hold the (race) in the current circumstances.”
The four-time champion said “In my personal opinion, obviously I woke up again after this morning’s news, shocked. I think it’s horrible to see what is happening. Obviously, if you look at the calendar, we have a race scheduled in Russia.
“For myself, my own opinion is I should not go, I will not go. I think it’s wrong to race in that country. I’m sorry for the people, innocent people who are losing their lives, getting killed for stupid reasons under a very strange and mad leadership.”
The race in Sochi is due to be the last before the race moves to St Petersburg next year,
Meanwhile, Haas, whose title sponsor is Russian company Uralkali and who have a Russian driver in Nikita Mazepin, withdrew team boss Guenther Steiner from the pre-season testing press conference on Thursday. Later in the evening, the team announced they would drop the branding of Russian sponsor Uralkali branding
Mazepin, told Sky Sports News on Wednesday that he was “not struggling” with the situation and that he expected the Russian Grand Prix to go ahead.
the race’s promoter has claimed the race can still go ahead. Rosgonki told fans not to seek refunds for tickets as “it is still possible that the round will take place and will be held as previously scheduled” despite F1’s statement.
Mercedes
Mercedes from the off was maybe higher up on day one than we are used to as they tend not to go for speed straight away and Lewis Hamilton as you would expect was faster than George Russell. Hamilton told the press conference on day one, “You would assume that Ferrari perhaps didn’t do much development of that car and just put everything into this year’s car. So does that mean that they’re several months ahead?”
Though Mercedes didn’t show pace until the last day, we always kind of expect that but on day two saw Russell lead the team in terms of mileage. We know the team go for mileage and a very different run plan, speaking about pace, Russell said “Certainly not ahead, pretty sure of that. They seem to have things well under control. They are on top of everything and look very strong in low and high fuel and with the tyre management. Who knows!”
On Friday Russell started the spin we expect from Mercedes saying he didn’t think the pace was representative of the true order. How many times in the last nine years have we said that though, do we believe it anymore?
Hamilton added later in the evening the team had to overcome “obstacles” this week. following the chequered flag, he told reporters “It’s been an interesting few days. It’s not been the easiest, or the most smooth running. We’ve definitely had some obstacles to overcome.
“But we’ve got through a lot and of course we’d always want more laps, but I’m happy with today. I think I almost got 100 laps in today. So for half a day of running, that’s not too bad.”
We haven’t yet seen performance runs that is true, so while we wait until Sakhir, we can’t really have an idea of the pecking order. Then that won’t be a 100% until qualifying and the race, and the first two races are not reprehensive either because they are night races, then Melbourne is street circuit really we are waiting until Imola and Barcelona in May.
Red Bull
Red Bull’s opening day was focused on the mileage, Max Verstappen managing two race distances. But they had the most striking looking car with the Dutchman saying “The car is completely different. I think the RB18 looks good but of course, it’s about being fast.”
Max Verstappen made his first comments since the Abu Dhabi report saying the removal of Michael Masi was “very unfair” and “not the right decision”. Verstappen also revealed he had contacted Masi after feeling “really sad” regarding the decision to replace him with respective former FIA World Endurance Championship and DTM race directors Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich.
In his first press conference since the report was published, Verstappen said, “For me, it’s very unfair what happened to Michael – he was really being thrown under the bus. Now, [that they] did sack him like that in the first place for me is unacceptable. And now basically [that they] sacked him is really incredible. I feel really sorry for Michael.
“Because I think he was a very capable and good race director. I have nothing against the new race directors – because I think they are also very capable and very good race directors. But, personally, and for Michael, I felt really sad and I sent him a text as well.”
Ferrari
On the eve of testing, team principal Mattia Binotto believes it was important for the team to be “fully open-minded” and chase innovation when designing its new car under the 2022 regulations. Ferrari’s car has been one of the cars which have stood out because it looked different to the other cars, but we don’t know yet who has got it right.
Binotto says it was the result of different design routes and we know that the team’s poor 2020 means that they had more time in the wind tunnel. They also have a new power unit, which he described as “a big innovation for us compared to the past.” Does this result in a step forwards for the team?
Ferrari set the pace in the first session, Charles Leclerc ending the opening day a quarter of a second ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz and three and a half tenths ahead of the two Mercedes. Leclerc again topped the times on day two going two tenths ahead of the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly
Ferrari after sixteen hours of track time look reliable, between Sainz and Leclerc the team managed well over two race distances with a hundredth and fifty laps with Leclerc doing seventy-eight and Sainz seventy-one.
Binotto said following the opening day that maybe the teams were underestimated the potential for the new ground effect cars to suffer from ‘porpoising’. With the previous generation of ground effect cars they were triggered by the underfloor downforce sucking the car down more and more as it accelerates down the straights – before the airflow suddenly stalls through either a change in air pressure or the floor hitting the ground.
McLaren
McLaren’s Lando Norris was fastest on the first day of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya. The Englishman set his fastest time a 19.568 on the C4 tyre. The first-day pace was quicker than we expected given the regulation change, we were only a second off last years FP1 time.
On the second day, Norris’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo led the times before Leclerc and Pierre Gasly went fastest. Comparing Ricciardo’s and Leclerc’s lap times it was the Ferrari’s more impressive as it was set on the C3 tyres.
Alpine
On Monday, Alpine launched two different livery’s which it plans to flip, the change to a blue and pink livery follows a tie-up with BWT. At the launch CEO Laurent Rossi says they can be future title contenders and were moving in the right direction following their victory in Budapest last year.
The French manufacturer has finished fifth in the constructor for the last three years, the question for all the teams can they make a step forwards. Rossi also says they can be future title contenders and were moving in the right direction following their victory in Budapest last year.
Aston Martin
Sebastian Vettel says the team’s 2022 car is “a different animal” and admitted the team still had a mountain to climb to get on top of its new challenger. On day two when he made those comments, the four-time champion finished sixth a second off Charles Leclerc.
Vettel admitted that he and the team still have a lot of learning to do about the way the AMR22 has to be driven and set up. He said “In all honesty, there’s still an awful lot to understand. t’s a completely different animal and it wants to be tamed in a different way. That’s driving the car, but that’s also operating, in terms of set-up.”
“We’ve tried a couple of things. There are some major challenges, like others are also facing, and problems. So yeah, we need to find solutions. There’s still a lot to learn for me with a car that wants to be driven in a different way, and I’m playing with driving styles, what I can do.”
Vettel admitted that he found the new car alien, and suggested that this year drivers may need to pick their battles. Could that suggest, obviously we don’t know and it could take a few races to understand the impact of the changes, also we need varying types
Williams
Alex Albon has described the new cars as needing “finesse” when they are driven on the limit. The British-Thai driver finished Thursday ninth fastest, the common theme beginning to emerge is the drivers reporting these cars are feeling heavier, especially in slower corners.
when asked about 2022 cars by Motorsport.com, the Thai/British driver said “I think these tyres they’re quite different to operate and there is a bit of learning to do there as well. The other thing I’m thinking about is the cars, they are slippery obviously, you can see them moving around a bit more. So it’s a bit more finesse required for the driving.
“I think once you’re on the limit and things are stiff you’ve got to be a bit more precise when you’re driving these things. So I’ll be interested to see what the cars are like when you’re driving on the limit.”
Speaking about the car Albon says the feeling was a good foundation for this year’s car, improving lap by lap. He confirmed like other teams Williams has been dealing with “porpoising” at high speed on the main straight.
Haas
Haas made their on-track debut with a shakedown test in Barcelona on Monday, the team are hoping that the decision not to develop last year to focus on the regulation changes allows them to return to the midfield. The team were a surprise when they made their debut in 2016 of being in the fight, but for some reason slipped back under the last set of regulations.
Despite the shakedown reliability on day one was not great, Nikita Mazepin’s day was limited, he could only manage twenty laps before his day was over because of floor problems. His Haas teammate Mick Schumacher didn’t do much better, just doing three more laps setting a 22.9, which was two seconds off the pace.
Following the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday the team dropped the branding of title sponsor Uralkali, for now anyway we don’t yet know the long term plan. Its owner the father of Mazepin Dimitry has links to President Vladimir Putin. Putin ally Sergei Chemezov has been chairman of the company since 2014.
Haas had the Uralkali name and logo across its cars and team kit and adopted the company’s red, white and blue Russian flag colours as its own. The team did not confirm whether the plain livery will continue into the second test in Bahrain, taking place between March 10-12, or the Bahrain Grand Prix of March 20.
The team said there would be no further comment made regarding the deal itself, on Friday Gunther Steiner but added, he will “work on” the situation “next week”. then shortly before going to publish, on Friday evening, Steiner said the team would replace him with Pietro Fittipaldi if they had to replace Mazepin.
Speaking to Speed City Broadcasting, Steiner said that if Mazepin was unable to drive, the team would turn to reserve driver Fittipaldi to step in. he said “If Nikita couldn’t drive for one or another reason, the first call would go to Pietro. Obviously, he [has been] with us for a few years, and then we would see what we do next.”
“But I mean Pietro is always around with us for a reason. The last years, we needed a reserve driver, having COVID around, so he is always around. He knows the team, he knows the car to jump in for one day to the other. There is nobody better than Pietro around at the moment.”
Is it worth sticking with the Mazepin’s, given the situation and his performance? “There are legal issues we have to go through and then we see what comes out. We made the decision yesterday with our team partners, this is what we’re going to do. I need to work on the rest next week.”
Mazepin we need to remember is not personally responsible for this situation, he took to social media to say it was “a difficult time” and he was “not in control over a lot of what is being said and done”.
Mazepin wrote, “I’m choosing to focus on what I CAN control by working hard and doing my best for my Haas F1 Team. My deepest thanks for your understanding and support.”
Andretti
On Monday 1978 world champion Mario Andretti announced his son Michael, had submitted an entry for either 2024 or 2025.
Last year F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali downplayed the possibility of the field expanding, suggesting that he was happy with ten teams. he told Motorsport.com “I can definitely tell you that after the introduction of the of the budget cap, we are receiving a lot of requests,”
In recent weeks and we have heard a raft of new American sponsors coming into the sport, which is a good thing, as it feels the sport has cracked the nut in the US repairing the damage done by Indygate in 2005. Austin last year reported record attendance as it signed a contract extension.
Reflecting on testing
Looking back on the questions in the Prixview despite the change in regulations as many predicted there wasn’t a major surprise and Mercedes and Red Bull are still the leading teams. But there could be both sandbagging and not the full package from the teams.
I think my big takeaway is that we haven’t lost the reliability which we had under the previous regulations. On Friday afternoon, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren and Williams each banked over 100 laps.
The teams will use the next week to analyse the data decide what upgrades and changes to take both to the test and Grand Prix next month. I don’t think we can make a good assessment of the pecking order until maybe we come back to Barcelona in three months’ time. I think that we are going to possibly pick up where we left off in Abu Dhabi.
I think if in Sakhir we see reliability issues emerge that is to be expected. Ferrari may have been masking a bit on the last day they only used the C3 tyre to set laps, which would suggest there is more to come. We haven’t obviously worked out the deficit between the tyre compounds yet.
Going to Bahrain I think we will get the performance runs, we don’t know where the pace is yet.
Note we write this Monday – Friday and publish this on a Sunday, obviously, the situation is changing quickly and was correct at the time of uploading.
