Has Adrian Newey made a mistake by shifting away from the design philosophy of the dominant RB19? When Red Bull revealed their 2024 challenger, the RB20, it quickly caught the attention of the experts for the bold design changes from its predecessor, especially the cues that were taken from last year’s Mercedes car. Although Max Verstappen dominated the first day of Bahrain pre-season testing, Lewis Hamilton posted a lap time (1 minute, 31.066 seconds) faster than Verstappen on the same C3 tire compound on a possibly similar low-fuel run towards the end of the afternoon session on Day 2. While the lap times during testing are not conclusive of anything, this could be a sign of things to come in the 2024 season especially considering rumors of Newey moving to Ferrari are rife.

What’s more, the Mercedes looked so much more compliant and stable in both slow and mid-speed corners and the W15 didn’t have a snappy rear end on corner exits, something that was a major concern for Mercedes in the last 2 seasons. On the other hand, Anthony Davidson, a Formula 1 expert, pointed out that the Red Bull didn’t look happy in slow-speed corners on Day 1.

Anthony Davidson believes Lewis Hamilton finally has a car he can hustle with

After Day 1, Anthony Davidson explained the intricacies of the Bahrain circuit and the importance of stability and agility, particularly in sections where cars transition from high to low speeds rapidly. According to him, Red Bull didn’t look as composed in slower sections where the rear of the car seemed to struggle for grip, resulting in excessive sliding. On the other hand, he praised how the Mercedes was able to react so well to the inputs given by Lewis Hamilton. While commenting during the afternoon session on Day 2, Anthony said, “The car really pivots well in the middle of turn 1, can get on power nice and aggressively as well on the exit of turn 2, and a very different car I see compared to last year”.

“Even into turn 4, where the rear usually goes light on the exit, it’s pretty much there for him.” He also commented on how the car looked extremely stable at the exit of the final turn. Anthony stated, “Been a rare thought that you turn that car into, say like, the final corner, I was fully expecting the car to be quite on edge if I’m honest, that’s what I’ve been accustomed to and it wasn’t. It was planted on the rear as he [Lewis Hamilton] turned in, almost too much.“

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Lewis Hamilton will shed light on what went down with Mercedes at the start of 2023 in the upcoming season of Drive To Survive.

Mercedes regretted calling Lewis Hamilton ‘wrong’

According to GB News, Lewis Hamilton revealed his internal struggle at Mercedes at the start of the 2023 season in a leaked clip from Season 6 of Drive To Survive. Hamilton said that he just wanted the team to listen to his concerns and act on them. “I remember complaining to the team and being like, look, we have to make these changes, otherwise this is the trajectory we’re going to go on and this is where we’re going to end up. Please, please do something about it,” said the 7-time champion.

However, the team dismissed him only to later realize that he was right. “I remember they said, like, we know what we’re doing, you’re wrong,” he added. “And that was definitely an interesting moment. I was like, okay, I’ll step back, don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. Then when we got into the season, then we spoke again [they said] ‘Oh, maybe you were right’.”

F1 Rumor: Christian Horner’s Last Day With Red Bull Set; Investigation in Its Final Stages

While lap times during testing need to be taken with a grain of salt, do you think Mercedes has taken a huge step towards the front of the grid in 2024?