Red Bull Runs Laps Around Other Teams During First Day of F1 Pre-Season Testing.
Verstappen’s top time cleared the rest of the field by 1.1 seconds and he ran a massive total of 143 laps.
PUBLISHED Feb 21, 2024 6:02 PM EST
By Jerry Perez
The Drive

Depending on who you ask, it's been a very long or a very short Formula 1 off-season. While many of the drivers travel around, party a bit, and get some much-needed time with their loved ones, most team personnel spend long days and nights at the factory dreading the first day of pre-season testing. Well, that day has come and gone, and here are some takeaways.

No surprises here. Pre-season testing isn't about lap times or even about going fast—it's about shaking down the car, making sure the old bits are still working, and the new bits are operating as expected. Things were working so well for Red Bull and Max Verstappen that they went long, racking up 143 laps in the new RB20. That's nearly two races worth of laps around the Bahrain International Circuit.

‘Top time cleared the rest of the field by 1.1 seconds’;

https://www.thedrive.com/news/red-bu...season-testing


2024 F1 testing results: Verstappen sets scary early tone on Day 1 in Bahrain
Max Verstappen set the tone early at Bahrain pre-season testing with a scary lap time, leading rivals by over one second
18:44, Wed, Feb 21, 2024
By Joshua Mbu
Daily and Sunday Express

Defending F1 world champion Max Verstappen fired the first warning shot of the 2024 campaign, clearing his competitors by more than one second on Day 1 of preseason testing in Bahrain. The Dutchman, who sealed a three-peat of F1 world championships last season, completed 142 laps for Red Bull, clocking in a best time of 1:31.344s.

‘Verstappen sets scary early tone’;

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...ary-early-tone


Gary Anderson: What's really going on inside Red Bull's new sidepods
Feb 21, 2024
by Gary Anderson
The Race

Red Bull’s unusual treatment of the radiator intake and sidepod undercut on its 2024 Formula 1 car initially looked like a second vertical rad inlet beneath the conventional horizontal one - but it was difficult to be certain based on the car launch images. This apparent new direction caused quite a stir, and many people started to call it a copy of a Mercedes' ‘zero’ sidepod concept, but it is far from that.

Red Bull is one of F1’s most secretive teams, and is doing its best to hide what it can from prying eyes, but our eagle eyed photographers have still managed to capture a few more revealing shots. We often wonder why the bodywork has so many lumps and bumps on it - they are mainly to house all of this cooling and electronic gubbins.

‘Going on inside Red Bull's new sidepods’;

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/r...gary-anderson/


The trick Red Bull's 'vertical sidepods' were hiding
21 February 7:00PM
Author RacingNews365 Staff
RacingNews365

Paolo Filisetti casts his eye over a surprise Red Bull RB20 invention that draws attention away from the sidepods. As the 2024 cars emerged on track in Sakhir, most of the focus was on the secrets of the Red Bull RB20.

Adrian Newey's latest design certainly caught the attention of those present in the Bahrain pit-lane, and an answer to the question of the sidepod inlets was finally discovered. Up close, it became clear that the actualy inlets are horizontal, located high up under the lip positioned at the upper edge.

The vertical slit is instead serving a similar function to the bypass duct on the Ferrari SF-24. The radiators are flat, with a reduced inclination as pictures of the car without bodywork proved. But what is interesting about the RB20 is not limited to the sidepod inlets. When Max Verstappen took the RB20 out, two large inlets in the long gulleys at the base of the halo were discovered, funneling air towards the rear of the car.

‘A surprise Red Bull RB20 invention’;

https://racingnews365.com/the-trick-...ds-were-hiding


Red Bull chief's face speaks volumes as Max Verstappen smashes it at F1 testing
Gianpiero Lambiase struggled to hide his excitement as Red Bull dominated the first practice day of the F1 season.
17:53, Wed, Feb 21, 2024
By Amos Murphy
Daily and Sunday Express

Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase failed to hide his excitement during F1 pre-season testing after an impressive performance from the Red Bull racer. The reigning world champion was the pick of the drivers on the first day of a three-day test event in Bahrain.

‘Red Bull chief's face speaks volumes’;

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...pen-F1-testing


GianPiero Lambiase: 'We have tested most of the fundamentals'
Published on 21 February 2024
by Johan Peeters
Verstappen.nl

GianPiero Lambiase, Head of Race Engineering of Oracle Red Bull Racing, reflects after the first day of testing: "The winter break was fairly short this year but, nonetheless, the amount of work which has gone into the car has been impressive as usual. We came to Bahrain with a few unknowns around a relatively new car, but we have tested most of the fundamentals on day one and got the answers we needed to. Now we have a solid base to take onto days two and three, when Checo takes over the car in the morning."

‘Tested most of the fundamentals’;

https://news.verstappen.com/en/article/5371/


Max Verstappen’s verdict on Red Bull’s ominous start with new RB20
Max Verstappen shares his first impressions of Red Bull's RB20 F1 car after making an ominous start to pre-season testing.
21 Feb 2024
Lewis Larkam
Crash.Net

As was the case last year, Max Verstappen and Red Bull were in total control as F1 2024 track action kicked off with pre-season testing in Bahrain. Once Verstappen had ironed out some early handling gremlins, the Dutchman looked at one with his new challenger and appeared able to comfortably extract performance from it.

“It feels good to be back in an F1 car again and I had fun out on track today,” he summarised at the end of the day. We covered a lot of laps and tried quite a few things with the car, which was important, so happy overall with how it went.”

“After the winter break, the first few laps always surprise you a little but then you get back into the swing of things pretty quickly. Overall, the car was responding well and considering this was only testing we had a nice day. Looking to tomorrow, we are speaking to our engineers about what the plans will be, but I am looking forward to getting into the car in the afternoon.”

‘In total control’;

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/104444...start-new-rb20


Red Bull chief Adrian Newey shows true colours after catching F1 rivals off guard
Max Verstappen dominated the first day of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
20:12, Wed, Feb 21, 2024
By Charlie Gordon
Daily and Sunday Express

Former F1 strategy engineer Bernie Collins was convinced that Red Bull had unveiled a 'dummy car' last week in an attempt to throw off their rivals. Nobody could lay a glove on them in 2023 as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez won all bar one of the season's Grands Prix between them.

Even so, chief technical officer Newey took the bold decision to head in a different direction ahead of the upcoming campaign. The RB20 dons vertical sidepod inlets and a bulging cooling arrangement in major changes to last year's machine. The 65-year-old has a stellar reputation in the paddock, and his justification for the bold approach underlines exactly why Red Bull have got their hands on an indispensable asset.

‘Stellar reputation in the paddock’;

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...ian-newey-rb20


Were Mercedes ‘sandbagging’ in F1 Testing? Almost 3 seconds off Max Verstappen and Red Bull
The Silver Arrows debut a completely new concept in Day 1 at 2024 F1 testing, and were way off the pace of frontrunner Max Verstappen in the Red Bull
February 21, 2024, 22:37
By Brandon Sutton
Total Motorsport

Mercedes didn’t focus on optimal performance set-up according to George Russell following a dismal debut of their 2024 car at the opening day of Formula 1 testing in Bahrain. After the team severed connections to its 2022 and 2023 cars, Toto Wolff’s team finished the day as 12th fastest out of 18 drivers, with Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez failing to test on Thursday. What’s even more concerning is they were 2.765 seconds slower than Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.

The team focused entirely on long runs according to Russell. “We know that it’s not about the feeling, but the speed,” Russell said after Day 1 of testing in Bahrain. “Nevertheless, today was about learning and not about chasing performance. We’re focused on ourselves at this test, and it will only be next week where we see where we stack up against the others. We will be focused on maximising mileage for learning rather than chasing an optimum sweet spot with the car.”

‘Were Mercedes ‘sandbagging?’

https://www.total-motorsport.com/geo...ll-verstappen/