Toto Wolff: A brand new season brings new alternative and it is thrilling to be heading into a brand new marketing campaign with all of the drama it’s going to inevitably carry.
Every of the final two seasons, we have headed to the primary race of the 12 months on the again foot. There was inherent goodness within the W13 and W14, however it typically proved too troublesome to unlock. They have been inconsistent machines. Our major purpose going into 2024 due to this fact was clear: create a constant and steady platform. A automobile that will react as we anticipated. One which the drivers might constantly push. And one which we will develop all year long, within the data that we’re bringing real-world efficiency to the monitor.
Over these first two races, we’ll get a a lot better understanding of the job now we have achieved. After pre-season testing although, we will draw some preliminary conclusions. The drivers are a lot happier with the general steadiness. The fundamental platform is working as we anticipated. The correlation to our simulations seems to be to be correct. That is all encouraging. It is a good basis that we will construct on.
Our focus on the take a look at was on studying concerning the automobile now we have. Our consideration can now flip to tuning efficiency for the Bahrain race weekend. Purple Bull, as is to be anticipated, look to be on the head of the sector. The chasing pack seems to be tight. We’ll quickly get an thought of the place we stack up in that. And the duty that’s forward of us to shut the hole to the entrance.
Wherever we internet out although, the entire workforce is relishing the problem forward. There’s a palpable sense of power working via the factories and people trackside. The 12 months forward is lengthy. There might be many ups, together with the inevitable downs. However that is why we love racing. And now, we won’t wait to get going.
Reality File
• Positioned in the course of the desert, on what was previously a camel farm, the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit options 1,120 palm bushes.
• Being located in a desert, you might count on sand to be a problem. Nevertheless, the encompassing desert is sprayed with a sticky adhesive substance to reduce the quantity of sand blowing on to the monitor.
• From the primary breaking of the bottom to construct the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit to completion took simply 496 days.
• The size of the tyre boundaries is 4100 metres and a complete of 82,000 tyres are used to do that.
• The entire run-off space is 140,000 sq. metres.
• The Bahrain Worldwide Circuit has 5 FIA licensed monitor layouts.
• Focus for automobile set-up is on optimising low and medium-speed nook efficiency. Mechanical grip is essential out of the slower corners, while the high-speed sections are simply taken flat-out.
• The monitor floor is constituted of a particular combination that was shipped from a quarry in England.
• Owing to the abrasiveness of the monitor, which is likely one of the roughest of the season, tyre degradation tends to be amongst the very best seen at any race throughout the calendar.
• One of the vital difficult corners on the monitor is Flip 10. It is lengthy, mixed nook entry that tightens earlier than dropping away on the apex. Drivers should apply the brakes while finishing the broad nook arc of Flip 9; this causes the front-left tyre to go mild and will increase the danger of a lock-up.
• The 5.412 km structure contains seven braking occasions, together with two categorised as ‘heavy.’
• This 12 months marks the twentieth anniversary of the primary Bahrain Grand Prix and would be the twenty first F1 Championship spherical on the Sakhir circuit. The race was cancelled in 2011 attributable to civil unrest, whereas the monitor hosted two races in 2020.
• This would be the sixth time that the Bahrain Grand Prix will function the opening spherical of an F1 season (2006, 2010, 2021, 2022, 2023).
• 4 drivers have a number of wins on the occasion. Lewis Hamilton has essentially the most with 5.
• George Russell made his first begin for Mercedes in Sakhir in 2020, deputising for Lewis.
• For the primary time in its historical past, the race will happen on a Saturday.
• Not less than one Mercedes-engined automobile has completed within the factors in every of the final 300 Grand Prix, courting again to the 2008 Chinese language Grand Prix.
