MOTORSPORT: Verstappen on top in F1 testing

Mercurial Max Verstappen has taken the first bragging rights of the 2021 F1 Grand Prix season by clocking the quickest lap during three days of testing in Bahrain.

He proved that big improvements to the Red Bull racer and its Honda powerplant have worked, as he was the only driver to dip into the 1:28min bracket at the Sakhir circuit that will also host the first round of the new F1 season in a fortnight.

But what does it really mean, when F1 rookie Yuki Tsunoda runs second for AlphaTauri and the two Aston Martins – despite their Mercedes-AMG powerplants – are at least six seconds off the pace and right at the bottom of the pack?

And what about Ferrari, which finished third thanks to new signing Carlos Sainz?

Verstappen knows and he is not getting too excited.

“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 programs at testing,” he said.

“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.”

That’s definitely the case for Lewis Hamilton, who will be shooting for his eighth world title this year and was only fifth quickest with Mercedes.

“I’ve never been a massive fan of testing, I just love racing. It’s probably the only year I would have asked for more days though, because we’ve got lots of work to do,” he said.

The pecking order from Bahrain is mixed, at best, and no-one believes Tsunoda will be second on the grid or that F1 veteran Kimi Raikkonen will make it to fourth with Alfa Romeo, or that the dismal Williams team of recent seasons will get George Russell up to sixth.

But the early signs are good for Daniel Ricciardo, who outpaced his highly-rated teammate Lando Norris in a McLaren which some people believe – with a new chassis and back to the Mercedes power that drove its most recent world title successes – could be the hidden gem for 2021.

There are plenty of teams with problems, as several outfits had gearbox failures, Aston had a powerplant give up on the final day, and the new Benz is obviously a handful – after regulation changes which have changed the amount of rear downforce – as Hamilton managed to throw his car into the gravel on one occasion.

“I feel we have improved in many areas compared to last season. It’s hard to say where we are compared to our opponents, because this test was even harder than usual to interpret,” said Ferrari’s team principal, Mattio Binotto.

But the best news for fans comes from Mercedes’ technical chief, Andrew Shovlin, with a hint that the coming season could be more competitive than the Hamilton-fests of recent years.

“We can see from the data we’ve collected over the last few days that, on race pace, we’re not as quick as Red Bull,” he said.

F1 pre-season testing results, Bahrain: