In relation to the end of the last season, the new season of Formula 1 It did not suffer too many alterations in terms of team competitiveness. What became clear is that, after the first two dates were played, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Ferrari emerges as the second fastest team, maintaining their qualifying pace and adding, at the same time, superior performance during the races.
With stable regulations and two races with very different circuits, the dispute between Mercedes and McLaren It continues to be very close, with each team showing their weaknesses and strengths, especially in the last race in Arabia.
One step below is Aston Martin, the first half of 2023 disclosure, which continues to improve, but to a lesser extent than Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren, so it has fallen to fifth position. Behind it, an abyss seems to have opened up.
Compared to last year, Alpine is clearly the rarity, the only team that was slower in Jeddah last weekend than in 2023 due to its late change of car design concept, according to the specialized site Motorsport.
But, listening to the comments of Yuki Tsunoda and DaNiel Ricciardo, the Anglo-Italian squad still has more lap time to find at high fuel loads, lacking some grip in the race set-up.
On the other spectrum is McLaren, which can compete with Red Bull for the title of most improved team in the last 12 months.
In McLaren’s case, a good chunk of the roughly 1.2 to 1.3 seconds it found came throughout 2023, with several major improvements around Austria and Singapore allowing it to close the year as the second-fastest team. .
RB also made great strides in 2023 thanks to continued ground development and a suspension change that made it one of the best teams in low-speed corners.
Third team
In one lap rhythm, Williams is the third team which has improved the most, which reinforces the belief that the results will come once it manages to complete race weekends cleaner than Bahrain and Jeddah.
Of last year’s bottom four teams, Sauber is the one that had the most disappointing start, achieving a reasonable lap time, but not as much as its direct rivals, demonstrating how brutal the relative game of F1’s relentless development race can be.
On paper, Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston have improved by a similar margin in one-lap pace, but it was the race performance of Ferrari and Mercedes which was particularly problematic last year and therefore how they fared over the race distance is much more telling.
It is clear that Ferrari managed to eliminate most of its weaknesses in the race, with an SF-24 that was much easier to handle and more robust in various conditions, which resulted in Carlos Ainz and Charles Leclerc reaching the podium unopposed in Bahrain and Jeddah respectively.
Mercedes It also produced a more benign car, but the smooth surface of Saudi Arabia brought with it some problems and alarming bounces in high-speed corners that have hindered its fight with the Scuderia in both qualifying and the race.
Alpine often languished as it finished 2023 in sixth place in the constructors’ standings, and its misstep this year among an otherwise stable pecking order further opened the gap between the top five and bottom five teams.
That means that whoever beats Lance Sgtroll, of course Aston, You will effectively earn a point if there are no major incidents.
Stroll finished 10th in Bahrain, but his off-track in Jeddah opened the door to a huge fight for the final point, which Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg won thanks to the unorthodox defense of his teammate Kevin Magnussen.
That outlook seems unlikely to change anytime soon. Long-term data from Bahrain suggested that haas could hunt Aston Martin, but the latter showed a much stronger race pace in Jeddah to nip that theory in the bud for now.
Due to Magnussen’s blocking actions in Jeddah, which even briefly brought Esteban Ocon into play, alpine, there has not been enough evidence of the true pace of Williams, RB and Sauber to judge whether or not one of them can close the gap this year on the circuits that suit them.
Although Melbourne’s Albert Park provides a unique third track that will provide more answers, many teams are already looking towards the fourth round in Japan to get a clearer idea of where they really stand.
Suzuki Not only is it an ideal test circuit, with its variety of high, medium and low speed corners, divided by a long straight, but the Japanese Grand Prix takes place much earlier than last year, in September. That means you’ll have a better picture of how teams have developed over the winter, rather than comparing them to 12 months ago.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
