Long read: what we learnt from F1 2023 pre-season testing

Formula 1’s pre-season test is now complete and the official start to the 2023 season is just around the corner, one question remains: what did we learn from pre-season testing?

McLaren’s brake woes

With a touch of deja vu to their pre-season ventures last season, McLaren seemed to have yet another issue with their brake systems. During Lando Norris’ testing stint, on the first day, the Briton spent most of his time in the garage as the team worked quickly to apply duct tape to the issues.
Throughout the weekend, the problems persisted and their testing programme became ever-increasingly impacted as the team continuously worked to strengthen the problematic areas on their MCL60.
By the end of the three-day test, the frustration seemed to get to Norris. F1 journalist Will Buxton claimed he had witnessed the McLaren driver punching a wall in frustration. Buxton claimed the move was ‘very unlike Lando’ and stated the move was hinting at something not being quite right with the car.

Credit: McLaren Racing

A mixed test for Alfa Romeo

It was a relatively good test for the Italian-branded Swiss car, in their final season branded as Alfa Romeo following Sauber’s split from Alfa to become Audi in 2026.
The driver pairing of Gunayu Zhou and Bottas were given a shared day of running on the first day where Zhou went eighth fastest while Bottas put in the 12th fastest time. The team’s Chinese driver went to the top of the timing boards on the second day of testing, with the provisional quickest time of the test.
However, problems started to set in for Alfa Romeo on the second day as Zhou suffered a technical issue while trying to conduct a practice start. On the third day, Bottas was forced to stop his C43 out on track with a suspected mechanical issue in the latter stages of the morning test.
Despite the problems on the final day, the team were able to get the car back out on track for the afternoon session and Bottas was still able to put in the third-fastest lap of the test with a 1:30.827.

Aston Martin looks competitive

The 2023 pre-season test didn’t get underway on the right foot for the Silverstone-based team. Felipe Drugovich stood in for the injured Lance Stroll, who was forced to miss pre-season testing due to a ‘minor’ training accident, but the Brazilian only managed to make it to turn four before he was forced to pull the AMR23 to the side of the track.
Once the AMR23 was repaired and ready to head back out on track, the car looked to be competitive as Fernando slotted in the second fastest time on the board on the opening day – 0.029s behind Verstappen’s fastest time.
Although the team ran through their pre-season test programme, the Silverstone team had a dilemma to contend with. Alonso was given all day on day two to get comfortable with his office for 2023 but Aston Martin needed to get some laps under Drugovich’s belt in case the Brazilian is called upon to replace recovering Stroll.
On the final day of testing, while lap times don’t truly account for much due to several factors, both Alonso and Drugovich set the ninth and 10th fastest times respectively. The duo also set the ninth (Alonso) and 12th (Drugovich) fastest lap times overall.

action, Bahrain International Circuit, F123T01a, F1, GP, Bahrain Felipe Drugovich, Aston Martin AMR23

Mercedes’ okay test
Mercedes will be looking to bounce back into the championship fight after an uncharacteristically poor season last year, scoring only one win across the 2022 season.
Although they ran through a fairly moderate and acceptable test, it wasn’t without issues for the once-dominant Silver Arrows. The team were struggling to get the balance right in their 2023 championship challenger across the pre-season test and a hydraulic issue hindered their running on the second day of testing.
The stop out on track in the afternoon, for George Russell, meant the German manufacturer was forced to curtail their running on the second day of testing. Speaking on the second day of running, Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin said:
“We’ve not had a strong day; stopping on track with a reliability issue wasn’t great and we have struggled to get the car balanced well across the changing conditions.
“We’ve got some investigations going on to understand why this has been such a challenge today when [in day one] it was fairly straightforward.”
Even though the team seemed to have issues with getting the right balance for the W14, the team’s seven-time world champion managed to put in the second-fastest lap across the entire pre-season test with a 1:30.664, 0.359s off Perez’s and the tests fastest time.

Red Bull: dominant and reliable

The defending world champions look to have the package which the rest of the field desires. Red Bull at the top of the timing sheets remained the norm, only on the second day were the reigning champions beaten on lap times, by Zhou.
Verstappen topped the timing sheets on the opening day with a 1:32.837 but it wasn’t until day two when defending drivers champion secured his fastest lap: 1:31.650. After a full day of running, on the final day, Perez topped the timing sheets in the afternoon and secured the fastest lap of the test with a 1:30.305.
While defending championship contender, the RB19, looked to be quick the car was reliable. Across the three-day test, the team completed a staggering total of 413 laps. However, Red Bull (413) wasn’t the team to obtain the highest mileage that was obtained by their sister team, Alpha Tauri (456) who completed 43 more laps.
In total, the defending champions clocked the fourth-highest amount of laps as they sat behind Alpha Tauri, Williams (439) and Ferrari (416).

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN – FEBRUARY 24: Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 on track during day two of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit on February 24, 2023 in Bahrain, Bahrain.

That’s all for the article; What we learnt from F1 2023 pre-season testing!

What has been your favourite, or most memorable, moment from the 2023 edition of Pre-Season Testing? Let us know in the comments!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• F1 Testing – Day 3: Perez tops testing ahead of Hamilton and Bottas
• F1 Testing – Day 3: Sainz on top of afternoon runners
• F1 Testing – Day 3: Leclerc on top in morning as Bottas sees early end
• F1 Testing – Day 3: Leclerc on top as McLaren deal with issues
• F1 Testing – Day 2: Sainz on top in first half of morning test
• F1 Testing: Verstappen rounds out first day as fastest man

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.