Ferrari is Fast, Real Fast

The first race of the 2023 season begins this week at the Bahrain GP. Will Stroll be ready in time?

March 02, 2023

In this week’s email:

Testing results: Ferrari championship contenders?
AlphaTauri on the market?: Red Bull may be selling
Bahrain GP: What to expect & times of everything (sorry west coast)
No more tire blankets?: Lewis says risk is too high if banned
Meme of the week: F1 ice skating

Testing results

F1 Data Analysis Twitter

Ferrari was fast, real fast

Testing consisted of 3 days. On day 1 Max put in a ton of volume with 157 laps and the fastest time, for comparison Nyck de Vries was second in laps with 85. By day 3 Max was resting and Checo led in laps and had the fastest lap time of testing. But take these results with a grain of salt. Teams were testing various tire compounds and aerodynamic parts throughout.

However, there is one reliable result, top speed. On day 3 Ferrari was blistering fast at 203 mph (327 km/h). So this raises the question, does Ferrari have what it takes to make a real run at the championship this year or will Red Bull continue their dominance? We’ll get a better idea come race day.

AlphaTauri may be for sale

Red Bull’s new sports director shaking things up

Since Oliver Mintzlaff took over as the new sports director at Red Bull he’s been questioning what they should do with AlphaTauri. There are a few options that he’s considering, and selling appears to be the most obvious one. AlphaTauri doesn’t exactly bring in the money either, never finishing high in the constructors’ championship. It’s starting to be more of an expense considering its original use was to develop drivers, but since now they have Max long-term there’s less need for that.

What also makes this intriguing is that teams are chomping at the bit to join Formula 1. Andretti is looking to create an expansion team for the grid, so this could be an easier path for him. Because right now Formula 1 wants Andretti to pony up $600 million as a dilution fee just to join, but if he were to buy a team then he would avoid that fee.

Bahrain GP

First race of the season

Sometimes being in America makes watching Formula 1 brutal, especially on the west coast. I mean who wants to wake up at 7 am on their day off? But it’s also pretty awesome, watching your favorite team win a grand prix before lunch. It has its ups and downs, anyway I digress.

Bahrain should be an interesting race. It’s the first time we are going to see the teams’ improvements in full force. It’s going to set the stage for the rest of the season. One main difference at the Bahrain GP this year is the main straight will have its DRS zone be 80m shorter, which means overtaking will be harder and more focus will be on the following straight to overtake.

It was just announced this morning that Lance Stroll would suit up this weekend at Bahrain. This news sidelines former Formula 2 champion, Felipe Drugovich, who was filling in for Stroll during testing. This is going to be Stroll’s first time in the new car, we’ll see if he’s able to get up to speed with all the changes that were made.

No more tire blankets?

CREDIT: Peter Fox/Getty Images

Lewis warns this ban is a bad idea

I’m sure you’ve seen it, 4 guys holding blankets on the tires until the cars are literally about to take off. You’ve probably wondered if those last few seconds really make a difference. Well, the FIA/F1 are now considering a ban on them as early as the 2024 season and are citing costs and energy consumption as the reasons why.

Hamilton was one of a handful of drivers that tested no-blanket runs. Afterward, Hamilton said that he believes this would put lives at risk because you’re skating around the first few laps trying to get them to warm up. Which is probably not what you want to be doing traveling 200 mph.