Toto Wolff’s Chief Engineer Admits Defeat to Christian Horner & Co. Mere Days Before 2024 Season Starts

The 2024 season is finally underway, as we are on day 2 of the pre-season testing in Bahrain. For the first time in a long time, day 1 of testing went quite smoothly as we didn’t get even a single red flag throughout the day. It means that all the cars are turning out to be quite reliable with little to no change in the regulations since 2022. However, the biggest question on everyone’s mind right now would be if Christian Horner and Red Bull have done it again. Whether they are miles ahead of the other teams or have others caught up to them? Well, the Toto Wolff camp thinks that Red Bull has done it again.

Just as a reminder, the results from day 1 of testing are not really indicative of anything concrete because no one really knows what kind of fuel loads, what engine modes, and what testing programs each team is running. However, based on the observation of how the cars ran at one of the bumpiest racetracks on the calendar, the Red Bull of Max Verstappen looked extremely compliant and stable, while others didn’t.

Andrew Shovlin believes Red Bull is ahead of everyone

Max Verstappen continued his impressive form on the first day of pre-season testing, dominating both the morning and afternoon sessions. He not only set a quick lap time in warmer conditions but also improved his time as the day progressed and the sun began to set over the Sakhir desert with the fastest lap time of 1 minute 31.344 seconds. One thing to note was his remarkable mileage, completing more than two race distances throughout the day. Verstappen completed 142 laps without any issues, leaving his closest rival, Lando Norris, and his McLaren, trailing by a significant 1.140 seconds.

Ferrari followed closely behind on the timesheets, with Carlos Sainz in third place and 1.240 seconds behind the Dutchman. Daniel Ricciardo for Racing Bulls followed close behind in fourth place and 1.255 seconds off the leader. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly completed the top 5 for the day with a lap time that was 1.461 seconds slower than Verstappen.

George Russell was the only other driver alongside Max Verstappen to spend the entire day behind the wheel and he also completed more than double the race distance. However, he ended the day in P12 and 2.765 seconds behind the reigning world champion. After the day concluded, Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes’ chief engineer, said as reported by Formula Passion.it, “There is very little difference between us, Ferrari, McLaren, and Aston Martin. But there is another clear fact: Red Bull is ahead of everyone.”

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Like I said before, we can’t read too much into the results of day 1 as there are too many unknowns. However, according to Toto Wolff, the results from day 1 of the test were encouraging.

Toto Wolff gets a positive response from both his drivers

Mercedes is hoping to bounce back to the top step of the constructors’ championship after a tough couple of years. Wolff mentioned during a press conference that they’ve been focusing on getting a stable foundation for the new car to build upon. The feedback from the drivers so far has been positive, which is encouraging news for the team.

“We had a car [in 2023] that was a handful and difficult to understand sometimes why it was doing what it was doing. The emphasis for this season is to have a stable platform… Let’s see if we have that… so far the feedback from the drivers was ‘yeah, this is something we can work with’ so that is encouraging,“ Wolff was quoted by Sports Illustrated.

Although there were some track issues that cut short Lewis Hamilton‘s morning testing session, Mercedes is looking forward to making the most out of the remaining sessions.

READ MORE: Bahrain Testing: Toto Wolff Denies Allegations of Illegal Mercedes Front Wing by Revealing FIA’s Involvement in Development

Has Red Bull taken their game up a notch in 2024? Share your insights in the comments down below.