Results of the morning session of the first day of testing

The first hours of testing are always exciting for teams and fans. The new cars have just been broken in; any problem could lead to lost time during the already short three-day tests. The regulations have hardly changed; given the financial constraints, very few people decided to seriously redesign the cars, but the leaders did some serious work.

In the first hour, the teams worked traditionally with the aerodynamic sensors, driving laps at a fixed speed to evaluate the correlation of the data, comparing the on-track results with the calculated results.

Max Verstappen returned to the pits fifteen minutes later – mechanics, supervised by a gray Adrian Newey, replaced the front wing and adjusted the settings. Other teams did the same a little later, comparing different nose cone configurations.

Ferrari tested variations on the engine case by installing sensors behind the upper air intake. McLaren spent most of the session doing short laps, from exiting to entering the pits, to gather information. Everyone used wing paint.

The session went smoothly. The drivers went off the track more than once in turn four; Esteban Ocon almost crashed the car, but wide safety zones made it possible to avoid consequences. Haas had problems with the fuel system, which prevented him from covering much distance.

At the end of the session, Albon’s car stopped in the safety zone of the first corner, but there were no red flags.

On the straights, many cars suffered from swaying, just like in previous years.

No one is working on speed anymore, the results are far from those of last year, the teams solve completely different problems, and very successfully – already on the morning of the first day everyone rode a long distance.