F1 driver blown away by Ferrari race starts: 'Better than my best ever start!'

Start simulations during testing in Bahrain highlighted a clear advantage off the line for Ferrari-powered cars, a factor George Russell suggested could be linked to a smaller turbo chosen by the Maranello squad, which would take less time to spool up and allow the engine to reach higher revs more quickly.

Speaking at the drivers' press conference in Sakhir, the Haas driver jokingly said he had benefited from starts that were “better than my best ever start.”

Going into more detail about the new start procedures, Bearman added: “It’s tough, it’s a bit more complicated than last year, that’s for sure. The procedure is much longer, but generally it works. been managing it quite well and I think there’s still a lot of variability even between a good and a bad start, but the spread is much higher than last year and previous years.

The Mercedes admitted he is concerned that Mercedes may be falling behind Ferrari when it comes to race starts, revealing that he experienced some of the worst practice launches of his career during testing in Bahrain.

The Briton explained that while he believes the car still holds strong potential, strong starts remain essential to winning races, pointing out that two of his launches during the week were poorer than any he had previously made in F1, while Hamilton managed to climb from P11 to P1 during a start simulation.