compressed to only three training days in Bahrain, since last Wednesday and until Friday, and marked by the cold and rain that has restricted the activity of the teams, which in less than three weeks will be presented in Australia to face the first Grand Prix of the Year with many unknowns. Waiting for what can happen on the last day of turns, make an radiography and order the grill, especially above, it is at this time a matter of faith. The 15 degrees on average and intermittent rain altered the plans and programs of the equipment, already obsessed in hiding their real potential as much as they can.
With all the above in mind, the tests in the Sakhir circuit leave clues, some more subtle than others, of what can happen in Melbourne on the 16th day. Papaya cars look all about this season just as they finished the previous one; This is, as the reference. The tremendous start of Max Verstappen during the first half of the last year – the victories in the first ten appointments – generated the Dutchman the mattress that he could administer in the second, in which he went through a drought of more than four months without winning, before being crowned tetra -champion in Las Vegas. If it were not for that brutal initial inertia, the title of pilots would probably have stopped at the Woking troop (Great Britain), which could celebrate that of builders more than a quarter of a century after the last time (1998).
In Bahrain, Norris was the most consistent this Thursday in long batches, the only way to calibrate, and with reserves, the solidity of the cars that technicians will continue to mold Melbourne. “The feeling is similar, [a la del coche del año anterior]which is where we wanted to start, ”said Norris. “What we have tried is to do it faster in general,” said Somerset’s boy, which last year won in four races. “If we went to the classification right now, I am sure we would change some things. But much of today and yesterday has simply marked boxes. It is not the fun part, ”McLaren deepened, 14th in the anecdotal classification ,. The Madrid has fallen into the Grove team with this in the process of reconstruction. The good news is that in a few months it may have gone from fighting with Sauber to avoid being the red lantern, to do it with Aston Martin, the team of Fernando Alonso (eleventh).
More doubts generate other candidates. Especially Red Bull, that although applauds the changes that have been made to the car to try to sweeten it and make it less sensitive, on this penultimate day he saw how the racing was spent more time inside the workshop, climbed to the and half detailed easels, than to spin. “The car is quite decent. As far as rhythm is concerned, it is always difficult to say, but I had a good time. His behavior is more predictable [que el de 2024]”, Said Verstappen. “The team learned a lot about what happened last year. The balance [del monoplaza] It cannot be worse than then, so the address in which we are going is adequate, ”added the Dutchman, that this Friday will come back to the RB21 for the last time.
In a scenario in which McLaren would roll ahead, less clear is the photo behind him between Mercedes and Ferrari, who would play that second place with permission from Red Bull. And the same good feelings transmits Kimi Antonelli (fifth), substitute for the multi -champion in Mercedes and the rookie that generates the most expectation.
