The teams seeking urgent answers as F1 testing time runs out

Ferrari led the way on the second day of Formula 1's pre-season Bahrain test, but the picture of who is out front remains murky. However, there are signs that a few teams are in danger of being cut adrift from the midfield with only one day of running remaining

Matt Kew Mar 11, 2022, 7:03 PM

Formula 1 has overhauled the way cars generate downforce by shifting to ground effect in the hope of improving the racing and boosting overtaking. But that desirable end goal relies on the grid being hotly contested, and that is in turn dependent on no team having found a silver bullet - think double diffuser in 2009, Ferrari’s torquey 1.5-litre V6 in 1961 and so on.

It’s no good slashing the dirty air to ensure drivers can follow one another more closely if one design office has crafted a world-beater and pulls away at the front. Similarly for the ultra-tight midfield, the ideal of the competitive order to-ing and fro-ing will best be achieved if no one has dropped the ball and been cut adrift.