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Overview after two weeks of winter testing: Red Bull comes out strong

Overview after two weeks of winter testing: Red Bull comes out strong

13-03-2022 14:38

GPblog.com

The Formula One teams and drivers have had six days to test the new 2022 equipment. It was Ferrari that managed to cover the most miles over the two weeks, while Lando Norris drove the most laps, although this was mainly due to the absent Daniel Ricciardo.

Verstappen on top and standout driver

At the end of the test week in Bahrain, the top five in terms of fastest times looked striking. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen managed to clock the fastest time after three days of testing on the softest tyre, the C5. The standout number two was Mick Schumacher. The German was half a second slower than Verstappen, but drove on the harder C4 tyre. Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso followed behind, both also driving on the C4. George Russell closed out the top five with a time on the C5 tire.

Bad week for McLaren

So the most laps were driven by Norris. The Briton drove all 200 laps for McLaren, because his teammate Ricciardo is in quarantine with the coronavirus. In total, Norris came in at 1,082 kilometers in Bahrain and while that is the most for a driver, it is the very least for the teams. After Norris, it was Russell who managed to do a lot of laps in Bahrain. He ended up with a total of 198, while he only had half the time Norris had for this number.

McLaren's low mileage is notable, as during the first week of testing in Barcelona the team drove many more and finished third in terms of laps driven. Due to the difficult second week of testing, McLaren arrives at a total of 2,797 kilometers driven over six days. This gives them eighth place in terms of productivity.

Productive days for Mercedes and Ferrari

When it comes to the number of laps driven over two weeks, Ferrari and Mercedes were clearly the strongest teams. The two teams finished close together, but it was Ferrari that managed just a bit more mileage. Carlos Sainz delivered the most laps in total over two test days with 416. Russell follows closely with 407 laps. Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton are in fifth and sixth place when it comes to most laps.

After Ferrari and Mercedes, AlphaTauri and Red Bull Racing follow at a close distance. Both teams have covered some 500 kilometers less, which amounts to more than one and a half race lengths. Aston Martin, Alpine and Williams can look back on reasonably successful tests. The teams did have some problems, but were generally able to put in a lot of miles.

Haas drove few laps, but fast times

At the bottom of the table we find Alfa Romeo and Haas F1. Both teams had a poor first week of testing in Barcelona, but managed to make up a lot of lost ground in Bahrain. Especially Alfa Romeo, as the team drove over 1,000 kilometers more in Bahrain than they did in Spain. Although Haas drove the fewest laps, the team can still look back on the past weeks positively after the fast times of Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen.

Driver Team Tire Time
1. Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing C5 1:31.720
2. Mick Schumacher Haas C4 1:32.241
3. Charles Leclerc Ferrari C4 1:32.415
4. Fernando Alonso Alpine C4 1:32.698
5. George Russell Mercedes C5 1:32.759
6. Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo C3 1:32.985
7. Yuki Tusnoda AlphaTauri C5 1:33.002
8. Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing C4 1:33.105
9. Lando Norris McLaren C3 1:33.191
10. Kevin Magnussen Haas C4 1:33.207
       

Top three times C5 tire

Driver Team Time
1. Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:31.720
2. George Russell Mercedes 1:32.759
3. Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:33.002
     

Top three times C4 tire

Driver Team Time
1. Mick Schumacher Haas 1:32.241
2. Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.415
3. Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:32.698
     

Number of laps driven per driver

Driver Barcelona Bahrain Total
Carlos Sainz 236 180 416
George Russell 209 198 407
Lando Norris 155 200 355
Pierre Gasly 187 194 381
Charles Leclerc 203 169 372
Lewis Hamilton 184 187 371
Max Verstappen 206 139 345
Sebastian Vettel 174 166 340
Sergio Perez 152 181 333
Alexander Albon 207 122 295
Yuki Tsunoda 121 177 298
Esteban Ocon 144 153 297
Guanyu Zhou 112 184 296
Lance Stroll 173 122 295
Fernando Alonso 139 146 285
Nicholas Latifi 140 136 276
Valtteri Bottas 54 159 213
Daniel Ricciardo 212 0 212
Mick Schumacher 89 108 197
Kevin Magnussen 0 98 98
Nikita Mazepin 71 0 0
Pietro Fittipaldi 0 47 47
Robert Kubica 9 0 9

Number of laps driven by team in Bahrain

Team Total laps
Mercedes 385
AlphaTauri 371
Ferrari 349
Alfa Romeo 343
Aston Martin 339
Red Bull Racing 320
Alpine 299
Williams 258
Haas F1 253
McLaren 200
   

Number of laps driven per team over six test days

Team Total laps
Ferrari 788
Mercedes 778
AlphaTauri 679
Red Bull Racing 678
Aston Martin 608
Williams 605
Alpine 582
McLaren 567
Alfa Romeo 518
Haas F1 413
   

Number of kilometers driven during tests

Team Barcelona Bahrain total
Ferrari 2.052 1.888 3.914
Mercedes 1.819 2.083 3.902
AlphaTauri 1.433 2.007 3.440
Red Bull Racing 1.671 1.731 3.402
Aston Martin 1.383 1.834 3.217
Williams 1.622 1.396 3.018
Alpine 1.323 1.618 2.941
McLaren 1.715 1.082 2.797
Alfa Romeo 818 1.856 2.674
Haas F1 748 1.369 2.117