Formula 1 begins: Everything you need to know about the season where Verstappen will go for another title, but Leclerc and Hamilton will want to prevent it

Words are over and this weekend the 74th season of the Formula 1 who reopens the fire in Sakhir International Circuitseat of the Bahrain Grand Prix. The expectation is placed on the possible predominance of Red Bull with the double world champion, Max Verstappenand what you can do Ferrari end his drought of titles through his rampart, Charles Leclerc. Inasmuch as mercedes go get it Lewis Hamilton can get back to winning ways. This is the X-ray of the Maxima in this 2023.

This is the second year with the technical concept released in 2022 which made a comeback after four decades of ground effect, which sought to make cars have more speed in curves with the aerodynamic attachments so that they stick to the ground. With the problems associated with the rebound effect having largely been overcome, everyone is now on a level playing field on this issue, which Red Bull was the first to take advantage of.

After the development season and the progress made in the cars, added to the adaptation of the drivers, during the pre-season tests also carried out in Sakhir, we have already seen how improved the times of the previous year. The fastest of the six runs was Sergio Perez with his Red Bull and scored 1m30s305 and surpassed the record achieved by 253/1000 Charles Leclerc to take pole positions at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix. Red Bull also dominated day one with Verstappen and on the previous day they maintained their supremacy.

Although those in Milton Keynes know they will have in the renewal Scuderia Ferrari his most loyal adversary. Maranello’s 066/10 engine once again showed its potential and by case on the second day of testing Guanyu-Zhou he was the fastest with Alfa Romeowho is the satellite team of The Red. the chinese companion Valtteri Bottasfinished third on the final day and was one of three who was under 1m31s.

Another important novelty at Ferrari, its brand new boss, Frederic Vasseurwho comes from Alfa Romeo, where he had good management. The Frenchman grabbed a red iron after the 2022 strategy mistakes that led to Mattia Binotto’s resignation.

Mercedes remain the third force and according to this preliminary Hamilton appeared with his second closing time in which he also managed to drop 1m31s. The German team won at the end of 2022 with george russell in Brazil and made a qualitative leap in the last part of the season. In that run, Lewis completed the 1-2.

The rest? Aston Martin It was another one that looked better with the built-in Fernando Alonso who finished second in the first afternoon session, third of two on day two and Felipe Drugovich completed the partial podium at the start of the final day. The replaced Brazilian Spear Stroll, who was unable to take part in the tests due to an accident with his bike, but was confirmed for this weekend. While another jumping was williamsnot as pronounced, but this will have to be taken into account with your objective of avoiding finishing last in the constructors world championship.

Technical news.

The rebound effect. To avoid this problem, the height of the center of the floor has been raised by 15 millimeters and its side part by 10 millimeters.

Security. The stiffness of the anti-roll bar has been increased, to prevent the rider’s head from taking a hit in the event of a rollover. This sector has a more rounded edge which reduces the chances of sinking on contact with the ground.

Security II. The mirrors have been enlarged from 150mm x 50mm to 200mm x 60mm, with a 30% increase in the viewing area for the driver.

Sports news.

Sprint race. There will be twice as many events with this format and the Grands Prix will increase from three to six with the Saturday competition: Azerbaijan (Baku), Austria (Red Bull Ring), Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps), Qatar (Lusail) , United States (Circuit of the Americas) and Brazil (Interlagos).

Qualification format test. There will be two dates where F1 will test a format in a bid to have more excitement in qualifying. It will consist of maintaining the three instances of Q1, Q2 and Q3, although the modification will be that only one type of tire can be used in each batch. The idea is to do Q1 only with hard, Q2 only with medium and Q3 only with soft. In these two races (not yet confirmed), the teams will have eleven sets of tires for the whole weekend (12 for the sprint races and 13 for the rest of the races).

Beginners and other incorporations. The American premiere Logan Sargeant (22 years old) in williams and the Australian Oscar Piastri (21) at McLaren. While the Dutch Nyck de Vries (28) will do it regularly (he ran a race in 2022 with Williams) in To install Alpha Tauri. Inasmuch as Haas is inspired by the German experience Nico Hulkenberg.

team changes. Fernando Alonso I manage to Aston Martin and its place in Alpine occupied it Pierre Gasly what’s left Alpha Tauri.

scores. For Sunday races: 1st (25), 2nd (18), 3rd (15), 4th (12), 5th (10), 6th (8), 7th (6), 8° (4), 9° ( 2) and 10° (1). lap record: 1 point.

sprint races: 1° (8), 2° (7), 3° (6), 4° (5), 5° (4), 6° (3), 7° (2) and 8° (1).

It should be remembered that last week after the meeting of the International Federation of Automobiles (FIA), announced ten revolutionary measures in the sports and technical field to improve racing.

The protagonists.

Red bull.

Drivers: Max Verstappen (1) and Sergio “Checo” Pérez (11).

Car: Red Bull RB 19.

Engine: Honda RBPTH001.

Scuderia Ferrari.

Drivers: Charles Leclerc (16) and Carlos Sainz (55).

Car: SF-23.

Engine: Ferrari 066/10.

Mercedes.

Drivers: Lewis Hamilton (44) and George Russell (63).

Automatic: W14.

Engine: Mercedes-AMG F1 M14.

Alpine.

Drivers: Pierre Gasly (10) and Esteban Ocon (31).

Automatic: A523.

Engine: Renault E-Tech RE23.

McLaren.

Drivers: Lando Norris (4) and Oscar Piastri (81).

Car: MCL60.

Engine: Mercedes-AMG F1 M14.

Alfa Romeo.

Drivers: Valtteri Bottas (77) and Guanyu Zhou (24).

Car: C43.

Engine: Ferrari 066/10.

Aston Martin.

Drivers: Fernando Alonso (14) and Lance Stroll (18).

Automatic: AMR23.

Engine: Mercedes-AMG F1 M14.

Haas.

Drivers: Nico Hulkenberg (27) and Kevin Magnussen (20).

Automatic: VF-23.

Engine: Ferrari 066/10.

To install Alpha Tauri.

Drivers: Yuki Tsunoda (22) and Nyck de Vries (21).

Automatic: AT04.

Engine: Engine: Honda RBPTH001.

Williams.

Drivers: Alex Albon (23) and Logan Sargeant (2).

Automatic: FW45.

Engine: Mercedes-AMG F1 M14.

The longest season in history. Con 23 Grand Prizes, the 2023 calendar will be the longest of the Maxima’s 73-year life. The new race is the Las Vegas Grand Prix on a street circuit on November 18 in what will be the third event the United States has this year.

The start in Bahrain can be seen by Star+ and here is the calendar with Argentina time:

Friday:

Free practice 1: 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Free practice 2: 12 to 13.

SATURDAY:

Free practice 3: 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Ranking: 12 to 13.

Domingo:

Carrera: 12.

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