Bad News for Verstappen's F1 Rivals as Red Bull Looks Better

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands arrives at the paddock during a Formula One pre season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands arrives at the paddock during a Formula One pre season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
TT
20

Bad News for Verstappen's F1 Rivals as Red Bull Looks Better

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands arrives at the paddock during a Formula One pre season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands arrives at the paddock during a Formula One pre season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

The bad news for Max Verstappen's rivals heading into the Formula One season is that Red Bull's car could even be better.

That's saying something considering Verstappen won a record 15 races last year on his way to a second straight world title, The Associated Press said.

But Verstappen topped the first day of F1 testing at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain and teammate Sergio Perez led the last on Saturday.

It's scary to think that Red Bull could head into next weekend's season-opening race, held on the same circuit, with none of the reliability woes that saw Verstappen fail to finish two of the first three races in 2022. Even despite that setback, he crushed everyone.

“The car is working really well, just going through a lot of things we wanted to try. It's very interesting what we've been trying, so very positive days for me,” Verstappen said. “Overall I think it’s definitely an improvement to last year."

Perez echoed that, saying Red Bull will start "much stronger than we did last year.”

Charles Leclerc won two of the first three races last season before Ferrari faded badly. He says the car feels good yet modifications are still needed.

“I expect us to be a bit quicker on the straights, maybe struggling a bit more in the corners,” the 25-year-old from Monaco said. “I can say we are still working quite a bit on finding the sweet spot in terms of set up.”

Ferrari was third and fourth in the first test; sixth-best in the second, and then fourth and fifth on Saturday.

“We’ve had a very intense three days of testing," Leclerc said. "We still have some work to do. Red Bull seems to be very strong.”

Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton finished second Saturday, but there's room to improve.

At least the ground effect — known as porpoising — which hindered the team so much in 2022 seems to have been eradicated.

“It's nice to drive without the bouncing for once," Hamilton said. "But there are still some underlying things we're working through.”

F1 race director Niels Wittich is confident bouncing has been fully resolved.

“I think porpoising is not a topic anymore,” he said. “I think we and the teams sorted it quite well last year.”

Hamilton is F1′s record holder with 103 wins but did not win a race last year, and the 38-year-old British driver feels the W14 car has some limitations.

Teammate George Russell broke down with a hydraulics issue on Friday, leaving trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin confused.

“Stopping on track with a reliability issue wasn’t great and we have struggled to get the car balanced well across the changing conditions," Shovlin said.

Russell, who won one race last year, placed only eighth in Saturday's last test day and said challenging for victory in Bahrain “may be a bit of a stretch.”

Among the surprises in testing: Alfa Romeo topped Day 2 through Zhou Guanyu and was third Saturday with Valtteri Bottas behind the wheel.

Alex Albon churned out 136 laps for Williams on Day 3 and his new American teammate Logan Sargeant looked at ease during testing. But it was hard to tell if Williams was just reliable, or threatens to be quick.

McLaren is behind the eight ball.

Although Lando Norris was fifth on Thursday it went downhill from there; with Oscar Piastri ninth on Friday and Norris 11th on Saturday.

CEO Zak Brown said the team was behind its projected development targets, and Norris conceded McLaren is playing catch up.

“There's still many things we've been struggling with. I guess we've been exploring," Norris said.
“We know where we stand, and I think our plan is more what we can achieve during this year rather than the car we start the year with.”



Confident Norris Eyes China Success as First F1 Sprint Beckons 

First-placed McLaren's British driver Lando Norris attends a press conference after the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on March 16, 2025. (AFP)
First-placed McLaren's British driver Lando Norris attends a press conference after the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on March 16, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

Confident Norris Eyes China Success as First F1 Sprint Beckons 

First-placed McLaren's British driver Lando Norris attends a press conference after the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on March 16, 2025. (AFP)
First-placed McLaren's British driver Lando Norris attends a press conference after the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on March 16, 2025. (AFP)

Early championship leader Lando Norris knows he will face a new series of challenges at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, including the first sprint race of the season.

Warm and dry weather is forecast for Saturday's sprint and Sunday's second grand prix of the year on the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit, where long turns and heavy braking zones are notoriously punishing on tires.

The conditions will be a marked contrast to last weekend's wet and wild season-opener in Melbourne, a race run almost entirely on intermediate wet tires and punctuated by long stints under the safety car.

McLaren's Norris survived a late slither onto gravel, damaging his car's floor, before holding off a charging Max Verstappen to take the chequered flag.

It is a fast turnaround to China, where teams will have just 60 minutes of practice on Friday morning to fine-tune their set-ups before the afternoon's sprint qualifying shootout.

The 19-lap sprint race is on Saturday morning before grand prix qualifying later the same day. Sunday sees the main race over 56 laps.

Norris finished a distant second behind Verstappen's Red Bull when Formula One returned to China last April after a five-year absence, but the Englishman is now the man to beat.

"I'm confident that when we go to China we can be very strong because we were strong there last year with not a very good car," Norris said after his Melbourne victory.

Verstappen's success in Shanghai a year ago was his fourth in five races as he dominated the early season before going on to win his fourth world championship.

- Hamilton Ferrari woe -

But in Australia on Sunday Verstappen was easily dropped by the McLarens once Oscar Piastri passed him for second place.

Verstappen was at one stage 16 seconds adrift before a Piastri spin and a safety car gave him a late chance to pressure Norris.

"We only have a few days before we are in China so not sure how much we will be able to find and turn around," said the Dutchman, who is seeking a fifth consecutive world title, a feat only previously achieved by Michael Schumacher.

Verstappen also won the sprint in China last year, blasting past Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes.

Now with Ferrari, Hamilton's debut for the Italian team saw the seven-time world champion berate a car that was "a lot worse" than he thought it would be as he came home 10th.

Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc were also compromised by being left out too long by the team on slicks when rain returned.

Both know they are already playing catch-up.

"McLaren and Red Bull had serious pace so there's work to do, but we'll dig deep," said Hamilton. "I'm looking forward to getting back in the car in China."

Hamilton has a record six victories in Shanghai -- twice with McLaren in 2008 and 2011, and four times with Mercedes in 2014-15, 2017 and 2019.

Leclerc conceded: "We are disappointed but it's good to know we'll be back in the car in just a few days in China. It's a continuous process of improvement."

Mercedes won six times in China from 2012 to 2019 and had an encouraging start in Melbourne, where George Russell was third and Kimi Antonelli fourth on his debut.

Antonelli was by far the best of the six full-season rookies, with Haas's Oliver Bearman the only other to finish.

Isack Hadjar was distraught after crashing his RB on the formation lap while Alpine's Jack Doohan hit the wall on the first lap.

Gabriel Bortoleto's Sauber and Liam Lawson's Red Bull retired after 45 and 46 of the 58 laps respectively.

Hometown hero Zhou Guanyu drew huge crowds last year in Shanghai when he raced for Sauber, but he has since been dumped by the team.

Fans will still be able to catch a glimpse of China's only Formula One driver, but it will be off the track in his new role as Ferrari reserve.