The circuit of Sakhir will host from this Wednesday to next Friday the preseason tests of Formula Oneon the track where, just a week later, with the dispute of Bahrain Grand Prixthe World Cup is about to start. Has 24 races, the longest in historyand where the Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 27 years old, will seek a fourth consecutive title.
Even if the tests are inconclusive, they always provide a glimpse of what can happen during the season. And all eyes are on the RB20, the new Red Bull car, the current dominant team. Winner of the last three World Cups with the Dutch star and last year he repeated the ‘double’ of the previous one by scoring, also thanks to the contribution of the Mexican Sergio Perez (34 years), the constructors’ championship.
‘Mad Max’ will film this Wednesday, in exams lasting eight hours a day divided into two sessions of four; and where each team can use only one car. ‘Checo’ will spin in Thursday’s morning session – the three-time champion will do so in the afternoon – and will test the new Red Bull in two stages on Friday.
The preseason will start this time after the bomb launched by the seven-time English world champion Lewis Hamilton (39) by declaring, on the first day of this month, that This is his last year at Mercedes; and from 2025 he will be a Ferrari driver, team which, for this reason, the Spaniard faced in his last campaign Carlos Sainz (30).
The advertisement represents a logical ‘domino effect’ in the transfer market and brought the ‘silly period’ for almost half a year: a term that in English refers to the often exaggerated formulation of rumors about possible team changes or new additions. Something that usually happens during the European summer; not at the beginning of February.
The dominance of the Austrian team in 2023 was brutal, because Verstappen raised his own record of victories in a year to 19 and the best driver in Mexican history added two more. The energy drink team won all of the course’s races, except one, the one scored by Sainz from Madrid in Singaporethat, pending announcements, Its new location has not been officially confirmed until 2025.
It is not yet known what his countryman’s team will be that year. Fernando Alonsowho, at 42 years old, caused a sensation last season by reaching the podium eight times in his first season with Aston Martin: raising his ‘drawers’ ratio in F1 to 106. The Asturian double world champion has a contract in force this season, but He has not yet decided if he wants to continue driving in the premier category.; how many years will he do it, if he prolongs his career; and on which team.
Alonso, in a video conference with a small group of media outlets, including EFE, on the occasion of the presentation of the AMR24 – the Aston Martin with which he will continue his brilliant sports career this year – recalled that He will first sit with those responsible for the Silverstone team. Although he warned that he is an “attractive” driver, as there are only three world champions at the track. And the only free one with a vision of 2025 is him.
Without avoiding all kinds of ‘disputes’, the preseason that starts this Wednesday – which will be completed exactly one week before the first qualifying of the year – tries to outline the set-up of the cars with the aim of start of the longest World Cup of all time, with 24 races. The first two, on two consecutive weekends at Bahrain and Saudi Arabiathey are debatable the first two Saturdays in Marchbecause of Ramadan.
So, from the Hispanic point of view, we have to see how the SF24 of Sainz and his partner, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, performs; and the AMR24 of Alonso and the Canadian Lance Stroll, his neighbor in the garage. On a track of 5,412 meters, fifteen curves and debuted in F1 in 2004. Where the brilliant Asturian driver signed up three of his 32 victories: in 2005 and 2006 – the years of his titles -, with Renault; and in 2010, when he won the day of his first race in a Ferrari.
As of early Tuesday, neither Ferrari nor Aston Martin had officially announced drivers’ schedules and lineups for preseason testing. Nor the others, except as reviewed by Red Bull; and Haas’steam where the German Nico Hulkenberg and the danish Kevin Magnussen Sessions will be distributed over three trial days. Announcements are expected to take place throughout the day.
Sainz finished second two years ago in Bahrain, where he achieved the first of his six ‘Czech’ F1 victories. In 2020, when the country on the Arabian Peninsula ‘doubled’ the pandemic World Cup calendar, the brave pilot from Guadalajara scored the Sakhir Grand Prix, when he was still driving for Career Point. Last year he finished second, behind Verstappen, who on that day achieved one of his 54 victories in the premier class.
Preseason tests starting this Wednesday apparently not enough for Alonsolamenting that they only have one “day and a half” per pilot; and that, moreover, “they don’t” do the tests “on the same cars.”
In the aforementioned videoconference, the Asturian double world champion responded to EFE that “I hope to have the honor of achieving the first victory in history for Aston Martin” this year and that, obviously, we cannot expect the qualitative leap that the team made last year – from being the ninth to the fifth team-, “because in that case I’m not here, but” having “a few beers with the team”to celebrate that event.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
