Although there were few surprises on the first day of pre-season, one of the things that stood out the most throughout the day was the fact that lap times seemed to be quite far apart compared to recent years.
The teams had said that in tests carried out in the simulators they had found that the 2022 cars were not too far from the 2021 ones, despite previous predictions that there would be a fairly large drop in lap time due to the reduction. of the aerodynamic load.
However, when they hit the tarmac on the first day of pre-season, the initial impression was that perhaps the teams hadn’t managed to pick up as much speed as they’d hoped.
Lando Norris’ best lap on the first day of testing was 1m19.568s, a far cry from recent Barcelona testing times which have often provided a fairly good indicator of the cars’ overall pace.
The last pre-season to take place in Barcelona was in 2020, and Lewis Hamilton led the timesheets at the end of day one with a lap of 1m16.976s, before his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas set a 1m15.732s. on the second day.
In the Spanish Grand Prix that year, Hamilton took pole position with a time of 1:15.584, not far from the laps that were seen in the tests, although it must be taken into account that winter conditions are theoretically better.
Direct comparisons with last season are a bit trickier to make, as there were no pre-season tests at Barcelona due to the pandemic, as well as a redesign of Turn 10 that changed the lap time.
However, if testing really does give a rough idea of how the car performs, then the new 2022 generation seems to be a step behind at the moment.
Hamilton ‘s pole position at last year’s Spanish GP was a 1m16.741s, which is almost three seconds quicker than Norris’ best lap on the first day of testing this year.
But it is clear that the teams are still nowhere near the limit with the 2022 cars. The first outings of these new cars are more focused on system checks and trying to understand their balance rather than looking at lap times. But are they running three seconds slower than would be possible for that reason?
Running in 1:19 is actually very much in line with the race pace the 2021 cars showed, as the leaders typically ran in 1:21 or 1:23 at the Spanish GP, with Max the fastest lap Verstappen near the final lap in 1:18.149.
Looking in more detail at Norris ‘ fastest lap in testing, that time would have put him 20th on the starting grid at the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix, just ahead of Nikita Mazepin on a 1m19.807s.
Doing a direct comparison of the lap time sectors, we can see that Norris’s 2022 car loses some time in sector 1 to the 2021 Haas, but makes up all of it in sectors 2 and 3.
Comparison of Norris and Mazepin laps in 2022 and 2021:
| Norris (2022) | Mazepin (2021) |
|---|---|
| Sector 1: 22,385 | Sector 1: 22,232 |
| Sector 2: 29,740 | Sector 2: 30,036 |
| Sector 3: 27,443 | Sector 3: 27,539 |
| Lap time: 1m19.568 | Lap time: 1m19.807 |
There doesn’t seem to be a dramatic change in terms of the high or low speed sections of the circuit, which fits perfectly with Lance Stroll’s comment that the new cars aren’t that far off from the old ones.
“Yes, they are quite different in some aspects, in many I would say. But also similar,” he said.
Looking at the “speed traps” or speed traps, Norris was not the fastest driver in any of them, which could also be due to both the different engine modes that can be run and the characteristics of the 2022 cars.
Norris and Mazepin speed comparison in 2022 and 2021
| Norris (2022) | Mazepin (2021) |
|---|---|
| Speed trap: 314 km/h | Speed trap: 324 |
| Finish line: 280 km/h | Finish line: 286 km/h |
| Sector 1: 281 km/h | Sector 1: 289 km/h |
| Sector 2: 301.2 km/h | Sector 2: 300 km/h |
What will be interesting to see is how much the pace of the cars will increase over the next few days, because at some point the teams will also want to get a rough indication of performance.
That should also give us some first answers about the theories that the 2022 cars are faster in a straight line, slower in low-speed corners and stronger in high-speed ones.
But if we talk about surprises on the first track day of the new generation of cars, there is no doubt that we are referring to the reliability shown by almost all the teams.
Contrary to expectations, the new cars proved unproblematic and the day proceeded without red flags, with the 2022 F1s proving to be incredibly tough.
World champion Max Verstappen completed the most laps among all drivers with 147 laps under his belt, eight more than on the first day of last pre-season.
