F1

Hidden risk in 'extreme' Mercedes move; no easy fix for McLaren problem: F1 Testing Talking Points.

The Australian put his struggles last season partly down to a lack of testing time — there were only three days in the 2021 program — so getting more experience with the new car will be crucial to him rebounding this year. The Scuderia has brought very few updates to the car for this test and has instead chosen to better understand its design to better target its upgrade schedule through the year. It’s particularly important for Alpine to get laps under its belt as the only team running the Renault engine, which has been revolutionised for this season. The team will have a chance to cause controversy of its own tonight, when its next round of updates is due. “The exact problems I’m not too sure, but it’s just temperatures and stuff, it just didn’t allow us to do long runs,” he said after completing 50 laps, the fewest of any team to run the entire day. Team boos Franz Tost set his habitual target of fifth in the standings for this year — the team finished just shy in sixth last season thanks largely to Yuki Tsunoda’s rocky start to his career — and looks well on track to meet it based on testing. The gap between compounds is yet to be defined, but there’s ordinarily at least half a second from one to another, which would sink Gasly’s time lower into the order. That doesn‘t correspond to the spirit of the regulations. The Mercedes design chooses a higher centre of gravity and more adventurous packaging and cooling — the car now features several cooling louvres to compensate — in exchange of aero gains. It’s to be expected fresh out of the box, but the team will need to make big gains by Saturday night to feel comfortable heading into the first round. While the paddock dealt with the first technical row of 2022, Sergio Perez was at least doing Red Bull Racing’s talking on the track. In 2019 the team used a similar strategy.