Combined fastest times from both tests
Valtteri Bottas
Max Verstappen Daniel Ricciardo Charles Leclerc Lewis Hamilton Esteban Ocon Sergio Perez Carlos Sainz Jr Sebastian Vettel George Russell Daniil Kvyat Robert Kubica Romain Grosjean Pierre Gasly
Kimi Raikkonen Lance Stroll Nicholas Latifi Antonio Giovinazzi Kevin Magnussen Alexander Albon Lando Norris
Mercedes W11
Red Bull-honda RB16 Renault RS20
Ferrari SF1000
Mercedes W11
Renault RS20
Racing Point-mercedes RP20 Mclaren-renault MCL35 Ferrari SF1000 Williams-mercedes FW43 Alphatauri-honda AT01
Alfa Romeo-ferrari C39 Haas-ferrari VF-20 Alphatauri-honda AT01
Alfa Romeo-ferrari C39 Racing Point-mercedes RP20 Williams-mercedes FW43 Alfa Romeo-ferrari C39 Haas-ferrari VF-20
Red Bull-honda RB16 Mclaren-renault MCL35 1m15.732s 1m16.269s 1m16.276s 1m16.360s 1m16.410s 1m16.433s 1m16.634s 1m16.820s 1m16.841s 1m16.871s 1m16.914s 1m16.942s 1m17.037s 1m17.066s 1m17.091s 1m17.118s 1m17.313s 1m17.469s 1m17.495s 1m17.550s 1m17.573s
summer shutdown forward to the spring, and this was extended from three weeks to nine, but the teams had improvements ready to go following testing, and indeed had the season started as expected they would have added more design tweaks when the action returned to Europe for the now cancelled Dutch Grand Prix.
“The normal process has continued because a lot of the development was in the pipeline following the testing, which would have been introduced at Zandvoort,” explains Horner, “or updates that would have also happened in Vietnam [the expected race before the Dutch GP once the Chinese GP was called off]. So, they all get rolled up and packaged into what will appear on the car in Austria.”
This situation applies to all teams, so we can look forward to the opening practice sessions being particularly busy as the field assesses whether the upgrades work as expected. And as the bigger teams generally bring constant upgrades to races given their greater levels of resources, putting that all on at the same time raises the prospect of much of the testing picture being refreshed.
Binotto was adamant that his squad was behind Mercedes and Red Bull in February, but at the same time he insisted
Ferrari would be back on terms as the season wore on.
When asked how he reacted to Binotto’s assertions about Ferrari’s pace in winter testing, which effectively heaped the pressure on Red Bull to take the fight to Mercedes, Horner says: “Obviously we have analysis available to us – that we all do – with the GPS overlays. And you could see that they’d taken a significant hit in straightline performance from where they were last year.
“But I’m sure they’ve worked hard during the interim, and
I’m sure they’ll be a contender as we head into Austria, but certainly in pre-season, you could see that they were down on performance from 12 months previously.”
By anyone’s assessment – be they Red Bull, Ferrari, even Autosport – it is Mercedes that heads to the two Austrian races as the benchmark. It has six years of success as proof of its potential, plus its now proven track record of keeping its mantle as F1’s best
running to the end of 2023, and in winter testing Alex Albon was clear that his employer would give him ample time to prove he can justify holding the seat he was unexpectedly promoted into midway through 2019.
When asked about the movements of former Red Bull juniors Vettel and Sainz, and his team’s own plans, Christian Horner is clear about the state of play.
“Nothing’s changed from when he [Albon] was re-signed for 2020, from the end of last year to now – so we don’t have any more information,” he says. “My expectation is that he’ll just continue to develop, continue to improve.
“And it’s a good dynamic that we have between the two drivers. A healthy dynamic. So, our intention will be for that to continue. Of course, we haven’t done a single race yet, but if we had to make the decision today it would be the same. We’re very happy with our two drivers.”
“It’s a good, healthy dynamic that we have between the two drivers. Our intention is for that to continue”