SAKHIR, Bahrain – Formula One Champion Max Verstappen get back to business soon Red Bull by leading the second training session in Bahrain to open the season grand opening under floodlight on Friday.
Competitor Lewis Hamilton keep fighting for Mercedes and only the ninth fastest. Last year’s runner-up title hit a record 103 F1 won but were completely ruled out opening the season in 104th place on Sunday.
“As you can see, we have a long way to go,” Hamilton said. “I’m just being realistic, we’re not going to be in the race to win here. If you look at the Red Bulls, they have a long way to go.”
Hamilton’s teammate George Russell had a slightly better record, finishing fourth in the second session, but said that was a one-time lap speed and suggested it would be a “damage limitation” case. for Mercedes this weekend.
“The current speed is not there at all. We are both struggling and we both have a long way to go,” said the British driver. “From our side, we are not too satisfied with our position.”
Red Bull and revival Ferrariwho last won the driver’s title in 2007, must be delighted.
Although Verstappen finished fifth in Friday’s first game, the Dutchman improved to finish ahead of Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr.
“We had a pretty good and smooth day so I’m happy,” said Verstappen, who was fastest of all pre-season tests. “We tried a few things on the car in each session, and they seemed to work well.”
Verstappen’s timing put him ahead of Leclerc .09 seconds and ahead of Sainz .58 in an encouraging day for Ferrari.
Verstappen, who could have a new opponent, said: “Ferrari is making an effort and is very close, so that’s exciting.
Hamilton was 1.2 seconds behind leader Verstappen on a disappointing day when the seven-time F1 champion finished seventh in his first training session.
“We have had small problems in the past compared to this year. Hamilton said. “Everything we did to try and fix it didn’t really change that. It looks like this will be a more permanent fix, so nothing short term.”
There was the third and final practice session on Saturday before qualifying in cooler evening conditions at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.
Friday’s first practice session was led by AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly, with Leclerc and Sainz also second and third as Ferrari’s encouraging performance from pre-season testing continued.
Russell finished fourth in the first set since replacing Valtteri Bottas on the team. Hamilton is significantly off 0.75 from Gasly’s time, and the gap to the leader is only larger in the second session.
This season has seen new regulations designed to level the playing field by reducing the advantage of the traditional big teams.
In an effort to make competition fairer, the budget has been cut from $145 million ($132 million) to $140 million (127 million euros) per team and will be reduced to 135 million. dollars (123 million euros) by 2023.
The cars were heavier and there was also a problem with what is known as “porpoising” in F1 – an aerodynamic problem when the cars jump and bounce on the track.
Mercedes has been affected by this.
“The brake Hamilton said. “It’s this more balance and this flourish that we have, and the loss of force that we seem to have compared to everyone else.”
McLaren uses a Mercedes engine and seems to have similar problems to deal with. British driver Lando Norris was 16th in first practice and 11th in second practice when he missed the lap.
McLaren had five podiums last season – four for Norris and one win for Daniel Ricciardo – while the marker behind Haas failed to even score a single point.
But both of Haas’s cars – which use Ferrari engines – are ahead of McLaren in second practice, with Mick Schumacher eighth and Kevin Magnussen 10th.
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