All ten Formula 1 teams have now revealed how they will split up driving duties over this week’s pre-season test at Bahrain International Circuit.
There will be three days of running, and so far bar one of members of the 2023 grid is scheduled to drive as an injury has put Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll out for at least the first day of action. Reigning Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich will take his place in the new AMR23 on Thursday, but the team is yet to announced its plan for the days after.Pirelli will supply each of the teams with 39 sets of tyres (35 sets of slicks, two intermediates and two wets), but seven of those those sets must remain unused and returned.
If a team does go through 32 sets of tyres in the test, then its selection must include the two sets of unmarked prototype C3 tyres that have been provided.
The markings of the other tyre compounds in terms of colour are white for C0 and C1, with the C0 only including text and not the ‘bracket’ line that runs around the tyre, a bracket-free yellow for the C2 and full yellow for the standard C3 tyre, a text-only red for the C4 and a combination of red text and bracket for the C5. The intermediate and wet compounds, if they are seen on track, are green and blue respectively.
The wet tyre will be of the specification that is being sent to the first five races, before an updated compound that does not require tyre blankets is introduced.
Bahrain test line-up
| Team | Thursday morning | Thursday afternoon | Friday morning | Friday afternoon | Saturday morning | Saturday afternoon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Bull | Max Verstappen | Sergio Perez | Verstappen | Perez | ||
| Ferrari | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Charles Leclerc | Sainz | Leclerc | Leclerc | Sainz |
| Mercedes | George Russell | Lewis Hamilton | Hamilton | Russell | Russell | Hamilton |
| Alpine | Pierre Gasly | Esteban Ocon | Ocon | Gasly | Gasly | Ocon |
| McLaren | Oscar Piastri | Lando Noris | Norris | Piastri | Piastri | Norris |
| Alfa Romeo | Zhou Guanyu | Valtteri Bottas | Zhou | Bottas | ||
| Aston Martin | Felipe Drugovich | Fernando Alonso | Alonso | TBC | TBC | |
| Haas | Nico Hulkenberg | Kevin Magnussen | Magnussen | Hulkenberg | Hulkenberg | Magnussen |
| AlphaTauri | Yuki Tsunoda | Nyck de Vries | Tsunoda | de Vries | de Vries | Tsunoda |
| Williams | Alexander Albon | Logan Sargeant | Sargeant | Albon | ||
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Jere (@jerejj)
22nd February 2023, 18:24
So all teams, bar RBR, AR, & Williams, split all three days for their drivers rather than using the same driver entirely for any given day.
”must remain unused” is an interesting never-heard-before requirement, so possible new-for-this-year.
More differences in the compound reference codes are also interesting.
Simon
22nd February 2023, 21:04
New season, but same old typos :/
DanielH (@danielh)
22nd February 2023, 22:54
Is it okay to say how uninspired I feel by the driver lineup this year? Who are the genuinely great and fast drivers? Max, Lewis, George, Charles, Lando…?
Sauber, Alpine, AlfaTauri, Williams, Haas….are any of their drivers exciting, fast, any good? Genuinely the best drivers in the world? Really? That’s half the grid!
Oople
22nd February 2023, 23:10
Can’t believe you’re giving this criticism now… The year after Latifi leaves the sport 🤣🤣🤣
Dex
23rd February 2023, 4:48
Latifi was at least, I’m embarrassed to admit, fun in a certain mean way; like an anti-hero of sorts (similar to Stroll, just even “better” at it). Verstappen, Hamilton and other great talents are fun for the “right” reason. Gasly, Magnussen, Hülkenberg etc., the majority of the grid, are neither here nor there, and are rarely exciting. But that’s the nature of any sport. The reason we consider drivers like Max great is because they are better than those mid-level drivers. If they were all at that level, Verstappen would be as “boring” as any other guy. They can’t all be in “the best” category, nor the worst, and we mostly take interest in the extremes. If Verstappen ends a race in 15th place that’s a story, if Latifi finishes 7th that a story and a half. If they both end around the middle, that’s still a story. A Gasly is neither a favourite nor an underdog, a driver with no means to win on merit, and no talent to constantly impress considering his machinery (like Norris). What’s left is having an interesting character. Almost all of these drivers are as generic as a human being can be, PR trained to the bone.