Sidepodcast - All for F1 and F1 for all

F1 teams get set for testing in Bahrain - Driver schedules are revealed for the second week of pre-season action

Published by Christine

Ferrari in Bahrain last year
Credit: Lorenzo Bellanca

Formula One's teams get back to work tomorrow, as the second week of testing gets going. Bahrain plays host to these four days of running, as well as the final week later in February. It's been well-documented that many of the teams had a poor start to their pre-season programme, and so the break between Spain and Bahrain will have given many a chance to catch-up.

We should also see the first appearance of the Lotus this week, as the Enstone team opted not to run at Jerez, instead focusing on being ready for the opportunity to test in the desert. Given the troubles we saw other Renault-powered teams going through, the decision may have been a good one. Defending champions Red Bull were struggling from the start, and boss Adrian Newey knows they have some work to do to catch up.

What stopped us at Jerez, on our side as opposed to Renault's side, was a problem where the bodywork local to the exhaust was catching fire... It was something that we could have proved out on the dyno if we had managed to get everything together earlier.

- Adrian Newey, chief technical officer, Red Bull

There were a lot of mechanical gremlins throughout the field in Jerez, and whilst it was to be expected in the first shakedown week, teams will be hoping they've ironed out most of the significant problems and can start getting some meaningful laps completed, and perhaps even a decent time on the board.

2014 Bahrain driver lineup
TeamDay 1Day 2Day 3Day 4
Red BullS VettelS VettelD RicciardoD Ricciardo
MercedesL HamiltonN RosbergL HamiltonN Rosberg
FerrariF AlonsoF AlonsoK RäikkönenK Räikkönen
LotusR GrosjeanR GrosjeanP MaldonadoP Maldonado
McLarenK MagnussenK MagnussenJ ButtonJ Button
Force IndiaN HülkenbergN HülkenbergS PérezS Pérez
SauberTBCTBCTBCTBC
Toro RossoD KvyatD KvyatJE VergneJE Vergne
WilliamsTBCTBCTBCTBC
MarussiaJ BianchiM ChiltonM ChiltonJ Bianchi
CaterhamR FrijnsK KobayashiM EricssonK Kobayashi

Pirelli have shared some information about their plans for the next few days, noting that they will bring the hard, medium and soft tyres to the Bahrain International Circuit, and that there will be thirty sets for each team across the four days. They're also bringing a winter tyre and some 2015 prototypes for yet more tyre testing.

With all the teams in attendance, and four full days of running ahead of them, we should be in for many more laps than we saw in Spain. Mercedes should still be performing well, with Renault bringing up the rear, but if this year has taught us anything so far, it is to expect the unexpected.

All content in the series 2014 F1 pre-season testing