Cynical Verstappen in Bahrain and 2025 favourite seems clear

On Wednesday evening, after a long day at the circuit, it was time for a game of football with fellow journalists and the Alpine and McLaren communications departments. A game of six against six, supplemented by local boys who were also keen to join in a game of football on the small pitch.

The joke of the evening was the absence of Helmut Marko. Indeed, once I arrived, I was asked for my +1. Where was Marko, who was supposed to come with me? I knew nothing about it. As it turned out. I had not thrown the 'Marko is coming up' app into the GPblog app, but into the app with the footballing colleagues. They thought I had found a tenth participant to play football with, in reality it was about a story for the website that was ready. Helmut Marko unfortunately did not actually come to play football with me.

Cynical Verstappen and Wolff

On Thursday morning, it was off to the track again in the early hours. If anything, the weather was even worse than it had been on Wednesday. It was cold, windy, but above all there was more rain. In the paddock, people were already joking that Aston Martin and Haas had been very clever by selecting intermediates for the winter test.

The rain meant that part of the morning programme was of no use for the teams. So an ideal time to talk to people. So there was a breakfast buffet at Aston Martin, followed by a press session with new team boss Andy Cowell. There it became clear that the new technical head Enrico Cardile, is still not working for Aston Martin due to a gardening leave from Ferrari. A start date for Cardile is still not known.

The press conferences during the lunch break also provided entertainment. First of all, the drivers, where Max Verstappen in particular starred. Verstappen rarely answered a question. He was humorous, although some might also describe him as cynical.

About the boos, Max wanted to say little: ''Was there boos?'' On his bond with Lando: ''That one is disastrous.'' On whether the F1 75 event in London was worth repeating: ''Yes, it was fantastic.'' No, a serious answer did not come out of Verstappen's mouth, who had already revealed in London that he had little to say before any racing had taken place.

In the session after, with the team bosses, there was a starring role for Toto Wolff. The Mercedes team boss nicely answered questions about the boos or the FIA's intervention, but made perhaps the most amusing statement on a completely different subject.

Namely, Wolff was asked about his colleagues on the bench. With James Vowles and Andy Cowell two people he worked with for a long time at Mercedes, who now work as team bosses at other teams in Formula 1. According to Wolff, "sensible people" who belong in the position they are in now. Asked if there are any team bosses who are not suitable for the role, Wolff stated, "There are a few others who are not sensible." A name was not mentioned, but of course the name can be guessed.

How do the cars behave on the track?

In the afternoon, after a media session with Esteban Ocon, there was time to take a look around the track. A year ago, it was very clear which cars were in good shape, and which were not. Back then, it was abundantly clear that Stake's car was not drivable and Alpine's car was not ideal on the road either. Year four of the regulations shows how close the cars are now.

Indeed, a year later, it is noticeable that most of the cars look good. Whether you look in the first corner combinations, or the hairpin in turn 10, all the cars look good. The only section where you could see some differences between drivers was in the section between turns 6 and 8.

In that sector, you see how the cars behave in the fast combination of 5,6 and 7, then you also see how the car reacts when braking, steering and pulling away from slow turn 8. Small differences can be seen there, but really small ones.

In fact, many of the cars look good. The top teams are barely distinguishable. Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes all look good. Red Bull Racing had a lot of problems on Thursday, and therefore didn't get outside much. When they did get outside, it looked somewhat unsettled in the hands of Liam Lawson.

Williams was fast, both in the short and long runs. The other teams are close together. Only Stake does not seem quite balanced on the track. At both high and low speed, the car is out of balance at times. This was also true to a lesser extent for Aston Martin on Thursday.

How Marko reacted to Red Bull's problems

At the end of the session, Helmut Marko had a word with GPblog. Marko was still positive about the team's performance. It had been a bit disappointing with the rain and problems with the water pressure, but Marko did not think the problems were major. They had been able to finish their programme and were still happy with the car.

On Friday, Max Verstappen will get back into the RB21. According to Marko, that will also be a much better benchmark to see where the team stands. In addition, Friday is more about performance runs, which will also shed more light on the ranking.

Andrea Stella closed the day. At 21:00 local time, Stella held his media moment in his own way. With plenty of time and attention to each question, with a whole speech to back up his answer. Never does such a session get boring.

The twinkle in Stella's eyes said a lot, though, when asked about his team's longruns. McLaren is in a good position and identified by everyone in the paddock as the big favourite. Everything is close, the McLaren team boss also stated, but McLaren still really seems to have a slight edge.