Hamilton: It could be further than 2022
Even the record holder isn’t excited at all. He sums up at the end of Friday: “We realized we were a long way off.” “It’s a huge gap,” he asserts, sounding anything but optimistic.
Neither the short nor the long run will feel good. Red Bull was a second quicker on the long run. “So we have a lot of work to do,” he sighs. Because the setting was already correct.
In other words: there simply isn’t much in the current package. You only get “milliseconds” with setting. “But that doesn’t close a single second gap,” he explains.
You’re going back to 2022, “if you’re not stepping away a little bit,” said Hamilton. Ouch!
AlphaTauri scene…
…in pit lane here again in the video. Rare chest…but as we know no penalty.
Russell: The car’s not in the right window yet
There was nothing you would see from Mercedes today. P8 and P13 are on the time list and in the long run you don’t have a chance against the top. Russell knows you have to “investigate” and take a look.
Some of the other bands, he explains, seem “too strong”. “Aston Martin is of course the biggest surprise. They obviously did a very good job in the winter,” he said in praise of the customer team.
It’s hard to say where you stand, says Russell. But obviously it should be faster. You have to get the car into the window “where we can fully exploit its potential”.
This is clearly not the case at the moment.
Hiking: He can drive all weekend
We return to Aston Martin. What about an injured picnic? “I feel fine, although I’m a bit rusty. But overall it was good in the car today,” the Canadian said it all.
Regarding the previously mentioned scene, when he said on the radio that he couldn’t drive a certain line because of his hand, he put it straight: “I wanted to [die verletzte Hand] protection. I felt more comfortable.”
“I definitely feel like I can drive,” he explains.
No penalty for AlphaTauri
Can we also quickly flag this: There is no penalty against AlphaTauri for an insecure release. In short, both drivers are said to have acted appropriately in the situation and prevented contact. Case closed.
Here is the full brief explanation:
“The team released Car 21 from its garage as Car 4 was approaching. The driver of Car 21 responded and stopped before reaching the fast lane. Both drivers reacted appropriately and no contact occurred.”
Alonso: Don’t think about the poles
So back to the fastest man of the day. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel good,” he says of AMR23. “It’s all about what other teams do,” he warns.
“And maybe you can feel good in your car, but when there are three or four cars that are faster, suddenly you don’t feel comfortable anymore. So let’s wait and see where we are,” said the two-time world champion.
When asked about a possible starting point for tomorrow, he explained: “I don’t think it’s that high, if I’m being honest. I really don’t know what a good position it could be for us. After the test drive, we were considering Q3 with both cars.”
Now that seems an understatement…
Verstappen: Nothing works at first…
The Red Bull drivers are not very happy after the first day of practice. Verstappen confirmed Helmut Marko’s comments after FT1: “It was a difficult start to the day. The first training session was really bad, I couldn’t find a balance.”
“That was strange,” said the Dutchman, because he had never had such big problems during testing. “The start of the second practice session was a bit rough. But the course in the last round wasn’t that bad,” he said.
“The car also felt better. With all the changes, I was pacing in the long run [positiv] Surprised,” he reveals, explaining that it has been known since testing that Aston Martin is “very competitive”.
However, he confidently explains: “We know we have a very competitive car, and now we just have to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.”
the incident…
… between Piastri and Stroll here again in the video. By the way, it has not been checked. On the other hand, the unconfirmed launch of AlphaTauri does. The session has already ended, so we should have a verdict soon.
De Vries: “A little late”
P18 and P19 for the AlphaTauri drivers of the day, only Sargent in the Williams was slower. “It’s no secret that we can get a little behind,” admits debutante de Vries.
He is “quite satisfied” with his work today, and confirms and explains that “progress” has been made. However, the Dutchman knows: “There is definitely still a lot of work ahead of us.”
The problem is, you can’t really make any “big changes” on a weekend. “Maybe this path does not suit our characteristics very well [des Autos]he explains.
After a few weekends you’ll have a clearer picture. At least in Bahrain it should be hard on points.
The most important thing for Friday…
… We’ve summarized it in a separate photo series for you. The fastest way to catch up in the evening!
Alonso: I have complete confidence in Lawrence Stroll
And the two-time world champion on Sky also revealed how Lawrence Stroll lured him to Aston Martin. “Lawrence has this vision in everything he does. It’s very difficult to see Lawrence Stroll fail at anything,” Alonso said.
“I think it’s only a matter of time before Aston Martin can challenge the top teams. I think we still have a long way to go,” explains Alonso, who makes it clear again.
“We’re in a very interesting process with a completely new car, a new technical department and a lot of things we still have to learn,” he confirms, putting the brakes on expectations again.
In the medium to long term, however, he believes in the success of the team.
Alonso: Don’t look at the times yet
Today’s fastest man speaks to Sky and says Friday was “another step in the right direction”. The car feels “good”. But: you don’t pay that much attention to the times.
According to Alonso, the focus is still on things like working on preparation. The team also wants to improve the race track. Aston Martin still has a long way to go.
Then tomorrow in qualifying we’ll know if it’s just low…
Long Distances
As promised, we’re already doing FT2 long-distance analysis in the background. Conclusion one: Verstappen was the best, followed by Alonso, then Perez. The remainder lags behind top 3.
But like I said, this is just a quick first analysis. It will be more detailed tonight in our live analysis!
Mercedes: The new side box will not be a copy
Mercedes is one of the few teams that has not yet copied Red Bull’s Side Box concept as they continue to build on the “zeropod concept” introduced in 2022.
Even though you’ve “dealt with other solutions”, says Chief Technology Officer Mike Elliott, you still don’t want to be a copy of Red Bull or another team.
The full story here!
FT2: closing time
This was the case with FT2, as announced, there were no more improvements at the time. Alonso’s best time was in front of Verstappen and Perez, with Mercedes only in midfield. Here on tape we continue to hear the sounds of the first training day of the year.
Before that, a quick overview:
FT2 report
FT2 score
Friday’s aggregate score
FT2: Trouble strolling
The Canadian is in P6, but was more than half a second slower than his teammate on his fastest lap. He has just now revealed on the radio that he is still somewhat restricted due to his injury.
When asked to take a different lane in Turn 1, he explained that it was not possible due to his hand. not optimal. The last five minutes of FT2 is already on.
Call all current information in the live session ticker!
FT2: Analysis
Speaking of long distances: Kevin Shoren, Christian Nimmervoll and Kevin Herrmann will take a closer look at them again in the coming hours and analyze them for you.
Then your conclusion tonight In our great analysis! It starts at 7:30 pm live on the Formel1.de YouTube channel.
“Creator. Troublemaker. Reader. Tv nerd. Proud beer advocate. Unable to type with boxing gloves on. Introvert. Certified zombie practitioner. Thinker.”
More Stories
Marcel Hirscher wants to return to the Netherlands
USA Gymnastics: Billions for Nassar's victims – Sports
James, Curry, Durant and Embiid are on the Olympic team