Racetrackmasters

The Mercedes team has to be worried after Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas both suffered gear box issues during pre-season testing in Bahrain. Lewis Hamilton also encountered trouble in the morning session on Saturday when he spun onto the gravel and his car had to be lifted back to the garage. The first sign of problems at Mercedes came to light on Friday morning when Bottas was called back into the pits after his first lap. The Silver Arrows discovered a transmission error between the gear box and the engine and had to make changes, which cut short the Finn’s session. Mercedes supply Aston Martin with engines and their new driver Vettel was frustrated by similar gear box problems on day two. The four-time world champion was limited to just six laps before being called back to the pits to have the problem fixed. Testing has been reduced to three days this season which is an even greater cause for concern to those who cannot maximise time out on the track. Vettel admitted it was not ideal to be leaving most of his testing until the Sunday session. “We would have liked more data and mileage, but that’s just the way it is. It’s a long year and this is just the starting point”, the German told Formule1.nl. “It’s all little things I have to get used to. This morning I would have liked to drive more – as everyone always wants – but hopefully this afternoon and tomorrow it will go well and we can make up ground. “You do need more than a day and a half to get back into your rhythm. But we have a long year ahead of us and I’m sure the more we drive the better it will be.” Hamilton’s Friday afternoon testing was heavily disrupted by a sandstorm which swept across the track. “Yeah, these things are sent to try us,” said Hamilton. “I think today definitely wasn’t the cleanest of days that we’ve had. “Everyone’s worked incredibly hard to get us here and to be where we are and to have the car with us and obviously, we had the mishap in the morning; really unfortunate for Valtteri in terms of losing time on track. “Definitely wasn’t without its challenges, but we exist to find the solutions to the problems that we’re faced with. So we just had a debrief and we’ll keep churning away. “We have to take positives out of every day but Of course we’ve all got our heads down; I don’t think anyone’s down about today.”

McLaren Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo topped a second successive morning session in pre-season testing in Bahrain, as Lewis Hamilton suffered a spin that caused a red-flag stoppage. On the heels of what was a clearly under-par opening day of pre-season testing for the usually-dominant Mercedes team, Hamilton kept the lap count ticking over at a steady pace from the start of the day. But he spun at the Turn 13 right-hander at relatively low speed soon after the halfway point and his W12 slid through the asphalt run-off rear-first, before ending up beached in the gravel trap. This necessitated a 15-minute red flag for the Mercedes to be removed. Hamilton’s spin came right after a pair of more violent-looking moments for both the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr and the Williams of Nicholas Latifi at Turn 7. Sainz had a half-spin but held on to the car through the run-off, while Latifi went around on the kerb on corner exit and was forced to crawl back to the pits with a shredded front-right tyre. Outside of that brief period, the session largely elapsed without incident, with Ricciardo and the returning Fernando Alonso swapping first place on several occasions. Ricciardo’s 1m32.215s on C3s eventually proved sufficient to keep him in the top spot until the chequered flag, with Alonso a tenth slower on C2s – yet being unable to match that time on C3s when he fitted them later. Also on C2s and just a quarter of a second down on Ricciardo was Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, while Latifi and Yuki Tsunoda (both using C4s) completed a top five split by just 0.469s. Latifi also gave the softest compound, C5, a brief runout, but his push lap on the tyre was ruined by an error at Turn 11. Sainz and Haas driver Nikita Mazepin were the only others within a second of Ricciardo, with Sainz’s time coming on the C3s and Mazepin’s on the C4s. Hamilton did return to the track soon after the red flag he’d caused was lifted, and ended the session in eighth place with a best time set on C2 tyres. Despite the off, his overall morning tally of 58 laps was already more than Mercedes had managed as a whole on Friday. But it was one of Mercedes’ engine customers – Aston Martin – that came up well short of running in the session instead. Sebastian Vettel managed just six early laps before returning to the pits and being kept there for most of the session by a “gearbox-related” issue. He did return to the track in the very final minutes, setting a personal best first sector on his first flying lap on C3s, before going wide at Turn 11 and then having the red flag come out for an FIA test. This meant he ended the session in last place, 6.6s off the pace and nearly three seconds down on the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi. The Italian focused entirely on race running in the session and logged 73 laps – the second-highest tally in the field, fewer only than Mazepin’s 76. SATURDAY AM TIMES1 Ricciardo (McLaren) 1m32.215s2 Alonso (Alpine) 1m32.339s3 Perez (Red Bull) 1m32.478s4 Latifi (Williams) 1m32.541s5 Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) 1m32.684s6 Sainz (Ferrari) 1m33.072s7 Mazepin (Haas) 1m33.101s8 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m33.399s9 Giovinazzi (AlfaRomeo) 1m36.018s10 Vettel (Aston Martin) 1m38.849s

Mercedes has a rather complex system of wings and curves at the front of the floor. Auto Motor und Sport also spotted a very similar undulation in the floor at Aston Martin. The purpose of these waves is to increase the floor area. In this way they hope to compensate for the part of the floor that has been cut away (due to the new regulations). Next to this curve, the floor in front of the rear wheel bends upwards at the outside. This also slightly increases the surface of the floor, although the effect will be marginal. Also at Red Bull the floor isn’t completely flat, but we don’t see the curvature of Mercedes and Aston Martin here. The number of flaps on top of the floor is also limited in the RB16. It could be that a simplistic approach has been chosen here, but perhaps the team doesn’t want to give away all their secrets just yet.

Fernando Alonso says he is ready to return to action in testing tomorrow following his cycling crash last month. The Alpine driver, who spent a weekend in hospital following an accident in February, said his injuries have not significantly affected his preparations to return.“After the accident three weeks or four weeks ago, I had 10 days to relax at home,” said Alonso. “After the surgery I had to relax a little bit. But after I think nine, 10 days, I went back to a very normal routine and fitness preparation. “I don’t expect any issues training. For now, I think three weeks or two weeks, [it’s been] absolutely normal. I have been in the simulator as well, Monday and Tuesday. So the preparations were not affected too much.” The two-time world champion did reveal that he still has at least one further operation remaining on his jaw, which he fractured in the crash. “One thing is the professional side and driving side, which is 100%. “On the personal, I will have to remove two titanium plates that I have from the upper jaw that we get removed at the end of the season. So still something going on after the championship finishes. “But as I said, it will not be affecting my professional life.” Alonso missed the Alpine car launch last month due to his first procedure but reiterated he is prepared and eager to be in the car tomorrow. “And then I missed the team launch because of the restrictions, at that time, they were quite tough between Switzerland and UK. But I was feeling fine and ready to go tomorrow in the car. I missed only a couple of marketing days and filming days. And then I covered over everything yesterday afternoon so I had a very intense day yesterday on marketing activities. But I feel fine.”

Mick Schumacher has picked 47 as his race number in Formula 1, with Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle calling it “ugly”. The German took to the Bahrain International Circuit on Friday in the new Haas 2021 challenger, the VF-21, after joining the team in December 2020. Fans of Formula 1 are always curious to see the numbers which drivers opt for, and there was some surprise and confusion when Mick chose 47. And, during commentary on pre-season testing, Brundle said: “Mick Schumacher has had to take an ugly number. All of the best numbers are taken.” He added: “It doesn’t feel like a Formula 1 number.” But, it turns out, it was not Mick’s first choice. He said in an interview with Sky Italy: “The number 47, I’ve been thinking about it. I wasn’t really sure what number I wanted. I wanted number 4, then I wanted number 7, but obviously they were taken. “And then I was thinking, why not combine them? So at first I was like, okay, maybe 74, but then I was like maybe not, and then we kind of came up with 47, which is the same and has so many coincidences which were just too big to oversee. “If you take all the birthdays of my family, that equals 47. If you think that 4 and 7 are both the numbers that I wanted, so it’s great to have them like this. “Some fans actually said 4 and 7, as in ‘For Michael’, which is also very nice and great to have and great to be able to drive, and therefore we chose number 47.” The connection with the number seven and Mick’s father Michael Schumacher is, of course, the number of Drivers’ Championships he won – a record which was equalled last year by Lewis Hamilton, and the Mercedes driver is in search of making himself the sole record holder in 2021. Schumacher is part of the an all-new rookie line-up at Haas, alongside Nikita Mazepin, and they are sharing the responsibilities over the testing weekend, with Mick taking Friday AM, Saturday PM and Sunday AM.

Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed the ideal start to his McLaren career as he went fastest on the opening morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing in Bahrain.The Australian’s time of 1.32.203 was good enough to see him finish 0.028 clear of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly in second, who completed a session-leading 74 laps, with Max Verstappen ending the session in third for Red Bull. Speaking after session, Ricciardo said: “I feel like I just jumped out and all I can really think about is some lunch. “It was really good. It was a nice half a day. Everything went pretty smooth. It’s nice to see your name up at the top but really testing day one is about reliability and making sure everything runs. “It was nice to get back into it. All good and happy.” With the conditions tricky in Bahrain and the wind causing issues, Verstappen was one of a number of drivers to go off-track as he looked to get to grips with his new RB16B. The forecast suggests that the winds are unlikely to die down, presenting further challenges to the drivers taking to the track for the afternoon session. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was fourth fastest, ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen in fifth and sixth respectively. Leclerc led to the session being red flagged with 10 minutes remaining after his SF21 became beached at Turn 4. Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel had his running limited after the German was forced to park in the pit lane. The four-time champion completed 51 laps in total, with a best time of 1.33.742 which was good enough for seventh. Mercedes missed most of the morning session after a transmission issue forced them to replace the gear box on their W12 E Performance. Valtteri Bottas only completed an installation lap during the first three and a half hours, before managing six laps in the final 30 minutes of the session. The team confirmed he would not be afforded extra running this afternoon, with Lewis Hamilton still scheduled to drive. Bottas posted the slowest time of the session with a 1.36.850. Mick Schumacher and Haas also saw their running impacted because of a gear box change, with the 2020 F2 champion managing to complete just 15 laps. Roy Nissany was eighth in the Williams.

Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz are the first Formula 1 drivers to reveal they have accepted Bahrain’s offer to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. Prior to the start of pre-season testing in Bahrain this week, the national government announced it would be offering both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to those attending both testing and the grand prix at the end of the month. F1 said that it would be turning down the offer as an organisation, and expected teams to do similar, but a number of personnel opted to accept the vaccine ahead of testing, including those from Red Bull, Ferrari and Aston Martin. Drivers were also offered the chance to get vaccinated as part of the programme, with Red Bull driver Perez and Ferrari’s Sainz confirming they have received their first dose. “Yeah, we got offered it, and I took the decision to take it,” said Perez when asked by Motorsport.com if he had accepted the vaccine. “For me, back in Mexico, I don’t know when I will be able to get it. So I think [it] was very nice from Bahrain to offer that to us. I took it myself.” “Same as Checo, I did take it,” said Sainz. “I think it was a great opportunity and obviously I’m thankful to the Bahrain government for offering it to so many people that travel around the world and, yeah, I’m happy with it.” McLaren driver Lando Norris said his personal decision was “yet to be made”. “It is obviously private information with what everyone does within a team and for myself,” Norris said. “For now, I’m healthy and I’m staying where I am.” Six F1 drivers to date have tested positive for COVID-19, including Norris, who contracted the virus over the winter while in Dubai. Lewis Hamilton, Perez and Lance Stroll were all forced to miss races last year after contracting the virus, while Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly also tested positive over the winter. Bahrain has already announced that it will allow fans to attend the 2021 season-opening grand prix from 26-28 March if they have received both COVID-19 doses or if they are fully recovered from the virus.

Red Bull advisor, Helmut Marko Reveals that Alexander Albon who lost the opportunity to fight for the world championship title with Red Bull in 2021 was not consistent enough to keep his seat with the team. He is very sure that Sergio Perez will be very consistent when he races with the team this year. Albon’s nervousness and lack of consistency worried the team as they put on their fight to take the world championship and the team had to seek another F1 driver who would give better results for the team in 2021. Red Bull later went ahead to pick Sergio Perez, who was previously racing for Racing Point now Aston Martin and this move alone took the F1 paddock by surprise. This is because Red Bull does not source for drivers outside its young drivers academy since 2007, when Mark Webber joined the team from Williams. However, Marko explained their reason for the move to take perez. “Despite all our efforts with Alex Albon, no consistency could be achieved and he became nervous, for example, with dismantling tires”, Marko outlined to German website Speedweek. According to the Austrian, talks with the Thai driver’s replacement, Sergio Perez, didn’t begin until very late in the season – though when they did, the deal was very easy to finalise. “We only talked more closely in Bahrain during a longer break between two races. Everyone lived together, so that wasn’t very noticeable”, Marko stated. “Then it went quickly to the signature “Perez has been in Formula 1 for 10 years and experienced all the ups and downs. He is aware of the great opportunity, no-nonsense will come [from him].”

Mercedes did not start the winter test in Bahrain as they had hoped. The team is in the pits after one lap and will not come out of them for a while. There are problems with the gearbox. Mercedes indicated before the start of the season that there were problems with the engine, but of course nobody wanted that after the sandbagging of Mercedes in recent years. However, now something new comes on top of that, as Mercedes has a problem with the gearbox and will not come out for the time being. ”There were problems with the fire-up, and the screens are in front of it now. That is only allowed if there is a major problem, so that is the case now. They are reporting to me now that there is a problem with the gearbox. They will replace it now and get back on the road as soon as possible. They will also investigate what caused the problem”, said Ted Kravitz who expects this to take about an hour. Going to have to keep you waiting a little longer for a proper look at W12… And we had a video and everything. We have a gearshift problem and are swapping the gearbox to get back out on track for our first real run!

The world champion outfit had launched its W12 earlier this month but been open that it was not fitted with a real version of the floor that it would be running in 2021. With F1’s aero rules having changed this year in a bid to cut back on downforce, teams have been forced to rework the designs they had in this area of the car. In particular, the removal of an area of the floor ahead of the rear tyre, plus a ban on holes and slots, was aimed at robbing teams of around 10 percent of downforce. Teams are well aware that how well they recover the downforce in this area will be key to their fortunes in 2021, so they have devoted a lot of effort to trying to make gains. Mercedes technical director James Allison explained that his squad decided to hold back on showing the floor because it did not want other teams to get a head start in being able to copy its idea. “The bit we’re not showing you is down along the edge of the floor,” he explained at the car launch. “That area is the area that was most affected by the new regulations, where they tried to pull performance away from the car by changing the floor regs. Down there, there’s a bunch of aerodynamic detail that we are not quite ready to release to the world. “Not because it’s not there, but because we don’t want our competitors to see it. We don’t want them starting to try and put similar things in their wind tunnels. It just buys us a couple of weeks extra. “I think we all look very closely at what our competitors do, so we know our competitors will be looking. And we don’t have to show it yet, so we’re not.” Ahead of the start of pre-season testing though, all the 2021 cars were rolled out on to the track for a photo opportunity – forcing teams to finally show off their current designs. The Mercedes floor has an intriguing arrangement with the floor edge rippled as it runs back from the front of the sidepod area.

Haas’ Mick Schumacher heads out on track on the first morning session of Bahrain testing.

Haas Formula 1 team has officially unveiled their 2021 F1 car, the VF-21 that will be driven by rookies Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher. Their official launch comes at a day when the pre-season testing kicks off at the Bahrain International Circuit. Nikita mazepin and Mick Schumacher who was the reigning champion of the 2020 Formula 2 championship were hands on at their Bahrain pit lane showing off their new F1 car ahead of the first day testing. The official launch of the VF-21 comes a day after Nikita Mazepin took out the car for its first ride at the Bahrain International Circuit as the team was not able to fire up the new car until they arrived at Bahrain due to travel restrictions. Haas will be hoping that the VF-21 helps them return to the sharper end of the grid in 2021, following the worst season of their five-year existence last year, when drivers Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen and Pietro Fittipaldi scored a mere three points between them. A big factor in whether Mazepin and Schumacher can challenge for more points for the team this season will be the performance of Ferrari’s new power unit, which will also see action in rivals Alfa Romeo’s C41 – as well as Ferrari’s own SF21 of course – while Haas have already confirmed that they won’t be developing the VF-21 throughout the year, as their design team’s focus switches to 2022. Following the unveiling, Mick Schumacher was set to be the first of the duo on track at pre-season testing in the VF-21, with Mazepin due to take over for the afternoon session.

Alfa Romeo Racing has announced that team boss Frederic Vasseur will not attend pre-season testing in Bahrain this weekend after testing positive for COVID-19. Vasseur is self-isolating at home according to protocols set out by French authorities and is not displaying any symptoms. A second PCR test, performed two days after the first, returned a negative result. “However, in the interests of safety of Mr Vasseur himself, the team, all fellow competitors and the whole community and in respect of French regulations, Mr Vasseur will not travel to Bahrain and will continue operating from home for the next seven days, as required by the local authorities,” said the team in a statement published Thursday evening. “Mr Vasseur will be fully operational and connected to the garage for the duration of the test, and no Deputy Team Principal will be named, with no further impact predicted on our operations this week.”

Red Bull Racing have announced a new partnership with Therabody to make the brand the Official Recovery Partner of the Milton Keynes-based team. Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez as well as the team’s pit crew, the fastest pit crew in the world, will utilize Therabody’s Bluetooth-enabled percussive therapy devices during their pre-race workouts and in post-race recovery as a result of this new partnership. Their access to a wide range of Therabody devices is designed to help them optimize warm-up and recovery time to ensure that they are in the best possible condition for each race throughout the 2021 season. This partnership will also provide the team with access to Therabody University, the company’s educational division led by founder and Chief Wellness Officer Dr. Jason Wersland and their network of health and fitness experts. Therabody is the creator of the first-ever hand-held percussive therapy device, Theragun, which is used to accelerate recovery and support overall athletic performance. But since the device’s initial launch in 2016, the company has evolved from Theragun into Therabody as a result of the additional devices which have become available. The Theragun device helps to mitigate and relieve muscle soreness that comes as a result of the intense preparation and repetition involved in the sport.Red Bull will have a custom Therabody wall mount that will house their Theragun devices and will live in the Red Bull Racing garage. It will be available for their use during every race weekend. More than 250 professional sports teams and athletes around the world already rely on the unique and industry-leading devices and solutions of the brand, and now that long list includes Formula 1 through this new partnership with Red Bull. Here is what Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had to say about the new partnership. “From the outside, Formula 1 might not seem like an intensely physical sport, especially for the mechanics in the garage. But these guys work incredibly hard to be in the best condition possible and if they weren’t, 1.82-second pit stops wouldn’t be possible. The downside is that the intense preparation and repetition can lead to muscle soreness so teaming up with Therabody will help mitigate that and will help the Team recover faster so that they can perform at their best.” Here is what Dr. Wersland had to add. “The Red Bull Racing Team is globally renowned for its speed. From the drivers to the pit crew, each member works incredibly hard physically and mentally, and effective recovery is critical to the team’s success. Therabody is honored to be supporting the Red Bull Racing Team and developing protocols that will help improve their recovery and maximize their performance.”

Aston Martin. There was plenty to admire about Aston Martin’s launch. We got a good look at the car – supported by a plethora of images – as well as insight from drivers Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel, plus Otmar Szafnauer and Andy Green – and there was even a cameo appearance from Bond himself, Daniel Craig. He was just one part of the star power, which also included the opening sequence and a voiceover from rapper Santan Dave and NFL superstar Tom Brady. While there was a slight lack of smoothness in the script when it came to star presenter Gemma Arterton’s questions, you can forgive some roughness round the edges given the effort made. Overall, this was a positive statement of intent from Aston Martin – even if it was also among the teams that somehow let some images get out before the launch. 2. Mercedes. Efficient, clean, to-the-point and with all the ingredients you’d expect, Mercedes was on the money with its launch. As well as extensive insight from the key players – supported by plenty of other material – there was a good look at the car. And technical director James Allison also had a clear idea of what the team did and did not want to give away. A well-executed reveal, which is just what you’d expect from F1’s dominant force. 3. Mclaren. McLaren probably made the biggest effort in terms of its launch programming, but given a significant chunk of it comprised drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris in a recording studio, it perhaps wasn’t ideal for a big part of F1’s demographic. But there was a decent explainer of the new rules from technical director James Key, as well as interviews with the drivers, Zak Brown and Andreas Seidl. It just needed a little more depth to satiate the appetite – although there were plenty of supporting press conferences that added detail. 4. Alfa Romeo. The Sauber-run Alfa Romeo squad is unique among the 2021 launches in that it went to the trouble of an exotic – by current standards – launch in Warsaw’s Grand Theatre. In the finest tradition of slightly overblown launches, it had an artistic dance element accompanied by music from Chopin and Puccini. There was also a presenting style that felt very Eurovision Song Contest, and while all of this can be distracting from what really matters in an F1 car launch, the fact Alfa Romeo was the only team to go this way counts for a lot. It also had the classic ingredients of a launch: car, drivers, team boss and technical director. And as well as the questions in the presentation, there was a full press conference afterwards. 5. Ferrari. It was a two-part process for Ferrari, with its team launch in February then the unveiling of the car itself yesterday. The first part was simply the appetiser, and offered little more than the key players talking. But come the reveal of the car there was a snappy 10-minute video with insight from the key technical personnel that offered a good feel for what had changed and for the expectations for the season. It’s just a shame we had to put up with the green of Mission Winnow, and that leaked images of the car appeared in advance of the reveal! 6. AlphaTauri. A brief launch video that was more fashion show than car reveal – perhaps not surprising given it was conducted with a 2020 car and the team is named after Red Bull’s fashion brand – lacked substance. But there were plenty of images of the actual 2021 car and some frank technical comments about where tokens had been spent among the significant amount of material put out by the team. A good, solid midfield launch for a good, solid midfield team. 7. Williams. Had the augmented reality app not had to be abandoned as a result of hacks, Williams would have been far higher in this list. That innovative, if ultimately insecure, idea would have been a big hit with fans. Unfortunately, all it did was allow some images to slip out before the reveal. In its place was a conventional launch with a healthy number of images and a press conference with all of the key players. It was a good effort, but frustrating given how close it was to something special that would likely have flooded social media with fan images of the car being projected into homes had the app gone ahead. 8. Alpine. A combination of questionable bandwidth, meaning those watching the launch live were subjected to a very jerky experience, and a high quotient of corporate blather about flags and Alpine’s spirit wasn’t an encouraging start to the rebranded team’s new era. Space was at least left for Esteban Ocon and Marcin Budkowski – and Alpine can’t be blamed for the absence of the recovering Fernando Alonso – but overall this launch marginalised the real stars – the car and its creators – in favour of board-pleasing superficiality. There was at least some ambition underpinning it, with the ‘virtual’ studio and car. It’s just a shame it was undermined by technical weaknesses and the corporate tone. Hopefully that won’t be a metaphor for the season. 9. Haas. As Haas’s launch was simply its new Russian Flag-inspired livery on a 2020 car, there was very little to get excited about by its reveal. But it did have a slow-burn quality to it. Initially, the livery caused controversy given the WADA ban on athletes competing under the Russian flag – while the main theme of the accompanying press conferences was Nikita Mazepin’s off-track conduct. This was followed six days later by the first footage of the car in shakedown, with the full reveal due just before testing gets going tomorrow. It was far from perfect, but considering the lack of material the team had to work with, a solid effort. 10. Red Bull. Two launch images of a car render…