Mercedes focused on improving F1 qualifying pace with W15

The Brackley squad focused on long stints rather than glory runs across the three-day winter test in Bahrain, with George Russell taking second on the final day using softer C4 tyres after he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton had stayed well clear of the top of the leaderboard earlier in the week.PLUS: Why it’s a Red Bull vs Ferrari battle in F1 2024 testing’s long run timesTrackside engineering …Keep reading

Norris: McLaren F1 still a long way behind Red Bull and Ferrari

Sporting a bold, new design for its RB20, F1’s dominant force Red Bull impressed at Sakhir with its consistently-rapid long runs.Ferrari also caught the eye with a much more balanced and stable SF-24, which appears to have gone some way towards addressing its 2023 race pace struggles, while Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz also delivered the headline lap times.PLUS: Why it’s a Red Bull vs Ferrari …Keep reading

The Ferrari race sim offering clues to its Red Bull-beating potential

It is why Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc coming out on top of the overall timing sheets over the course of this week’s Bahrain test has barely registered in conversations.Sainz’s overall test-topping time of 1m29.921s, set on the second day, was around seven-tenths faster than the Red Bull benchmark of 1m30.679s set by Sergio Perez on the same afternoon.However, no one is …Keep reading

Steiner to make Bahrain F1 paddock return in German TV role

He will attend seven races with German broadcaster RTL, as well as the Australian GP with Channel 10, and is in talks about other potential work that fits his schedule.His RTL commitment is weighted towards the second half of the season, with Bahrain followed by Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Azerbaijan and Las Vegas.The 58-year-old had his first taste of TV punditry at last year’s …Keep reading

Red Bull has shown it wants to “crush the competition”, says Ricciardo

Rather than opting for an evolutionary step on last year’s RB19, Red Bull opted for a bold concept shift that has included an eye-opening sidepod solution and Mercedes-style gulleys on its engine cover.The new car hit the ground running in this week’s test in Bahrain with its performance being widely considered to put the Milton Keynes-based squad clear of the opposition for the start of the …Keep reading