Honda complete over 4000km in Bahrain, as F1 Testing comes to a close
Pre-season testing ended with a Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri one-two as we enjoyed another productive two sessions in Bahrain.
Sergio was first in the car for Red Bull and added a further 49 laps to his total as he worked through different set-up options to understand how the car reacts to changes. At the end of the morning session - that took place in the hotter part of the day - the result was a good one from a pure lap time point of view, with Sergio finishing top of the timing screens on a 1:30.187.
At AlphaTauri it was Pierre who drove in the morning, with another productive stint as he completed 76 laps. Similarly the pace was solid but mileage was the most important aspect and Pierre finished his running with a total of 237 laps completed across all three sessions that he drove.
For the final section of the test, Max took over the Red Bull and carried out a lot of running on the C3 compound tyre before switching to the softer compounds after sunset for the most representative running compared to the race time in Bahrain. It was on the C4 tyre that Max set the fastest time of the week, posting a 1:28.960.
Yuki also had an extremely busy afternoon when he replaced Pierre, nearly reaching 100 laps on his own to continue his learning ahead of his rookie year. There were a number of soft tyre runs in the closing stages including a lap on the softest C5 compound, with good progression seeing him end up just 0.093s adrift of Max in second place.
While the outside world might focus on the headline lap times, within the team the most important result is that plenty of crucial data was gathered across all three days as the two Honda-powered teams combined for 791 laps, equivalent to 4280.9km - Red Bull completed 369 and AlphaTauri 422.
We will now spend the two weeks before the first race in Bahrain analysing everything we have learned during the test to allow us to understand the best approach when the 2021 season gets underway at the same venue from March 26-28.
Pre-season testing ended this evening at the Sakhir circuit and over the three days, Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda completed 422 laps and Red Bull Racing Honda did 369, making a total of 791 for the Honda Power Unit, equivalent to 4281 kilometres. This satisfactory mileage means we now have plenty of valuable and relevant data to study to help us prepare for the first race of the season, which takes place on this same track. As with all tests in this early part of the year, there were a few problems on the PU side and the chassis side, but overall, the reliability and general performance level of both cars was good and we got through all our planned programme with both teams. We will now have a busy two weeks, looking at what we have learned and implementing any necessary changes in order to be in the best possible shape for the Bahrain Grand Prix, because we are determined to have a strong start to the season.
It’s crazy to think that pre-season has already finished, it feels like it only just started. I think this is the shortest pre-season ever in my career! There’s a very limited amount of running and testing but we managed to work through a lot of set-up options and are improving every time we get into the car. I’m very excited about the season and I think we’ve got a good car underneath us but I still have a lot to learn in the car to get the maximum out of it. The Team is doing a fantastic job. It doesn’t really matter where we start in Bahrain, it matters where we finish in Abu Dhabi. Now we just want to look forward to the race weekend. We’re going to take it step by step and be patient in the beginning and then things will come to us.
Now that the three days of testing are over, I can’t wait to start racing, we’ve managed to complete our full testing schedule and have a good understanding of everything. Preparing for the race, we know the car’s strengths and we know where we can still make some improvements. I feel confident in the car and I think we’re in a much better place than we were this time last year. I think we know where we’ll be fast, and we have understood how to work on the car further. I really hope we can be in the fight this season and get some good points. Honda have also done a great job with the Power Unit and so far, we’re really happy with it – it’s a strong step forward, compared to last year, and the reliability has been perfect all three days, which is really positive. I’m excited for us to get to qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix because I think that’s when we’ll really see what everyone can do.
It was another good day and we got through the whole programme. Conditions were a bit different to day one so we had to adjust the car a bit as we went along but from our side it was very smooth, as it has been throughout the whole test. I think we can say it has been a good weekend but of course that doesn’t give you any guarantees and all teams are doing different programmes at testing. We always look into what we can improve and for sure there are still things we want to work on but I think all teams will have that. We’ll find out for sure in a couple of weeks in Q3 where we really are but in general I would say the car feels good and I’m looking forward to going racing.
Jumping out of the car in P2 today is a great feeling – of course you can’t get too ahead of yourself, as it’s only testing, but it’s great to finish the three days on a high. I’ve learnt so much over the last few days and collected crucial data for the team that we’ll now go back and analyse ahead of the first race. I think for me it’s great that we’re returning here so soon for the start of the season as I’ve managed to complete a lot of running here now and understand the track well. We’ve had a few small teething problems but that’s exactly what you’d expect from testing – we’re here to work everything out so we have the best possible package available to us come race day. I’ll continue working hard over the next few weeks and I’m excited for it to start!
