A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen were in action on for Red Bull Racing during the first day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit. Technical director Pierre Waché reflects on the first day of running ahead of the start of the season with satisfaction. For Lawson, it was his first winter test session ever. The Frenchman explained that adjusting the set-up was important for the coming test days.
"Today was a good working day with both drivers. With Liam in the morning, we tried to make some set-up changes to see how the car reacted to it and then in the afternoon when we changed to Max, we continued the programme with a different set-up change to see how we can understand the car for the next couple of days of Testing," the technical director explained.
Waché on Verstappen's runs
The differences were of course, discernible. When Verstappen returned to the track, he put his RB21 in second place on the timesheet, which he would later lose to Mercedes driver, George Russell. "We used two compounds, the C2 and C3, for both drivers, mainly to be able to do a consistent run and not focussed on extracting the most of the lap time but to understand how the car reacts," Waché continued.
Verstappen himself said after the first day that he was positively surprised by the new car's performance on track. The Dutchman will not return to action until Friday, as Liam Lawson will take over the driving duties during both Thursday sessions.
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This article was written in collaboration with Esteban den Toom.
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