Preview: What to expect from pre-season testing

We’re a little over a week away from the opening round of the 2023 Formula 1 season and the Williams Racing team are already in Bahrain for three days of pre-season testing.

Starting on Thursday, the track will be open to one car from each team from 10:00 (local time) each day until 19:30, with an hour lunch break in the middle.

This means that Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant will share testing duties equally, each getting 1.5 days to get to grips with the FW45.

On Thursday, AA23 will take the wheel in the morning session, with LS2 hopping into our new machine in the afternoon. Logan will then have a full day of running on Friday, while Alex will do the same on Saturday.

We won’t know the true pecking order until the chequered flag falls on the first qualifying session of the season, and testing timesheets should always be taken with a pinch of salt.

Drivers across the grid will look to test specific scenarios or aspects of their machines and will mix up whether they’re heading on longer runs or focusing on speedier laps.

Sandbagging is a phrase you’re also likely to hear over the course of testing - essentially, when a team avoids running a car to its maximum potential in order to not reveal the full truth about performance.

Logan is now hitting the final stretch of preparations for his debut season in F1 and is understandably itching to get to it now, saying:

"I’m super excited for testing in Bahrain. We already had a good feeling in the car at the rollout in Silverstone.

"I’m really looking forward to diving deeper into what the car is capable of and also getting more comfortable with it from my side.

"Bahrain is a track that I know well so that brings me confidence going into the test.

"Hopefully, that’ll put us in a good spot ahead of the first race of the season. We’re going to try and make everyone’s efforts and hard work over the winter pay off."

Alex, meanwhile, is looking to build on a strong first season at Williams Racing and is feeling positive ahead of Bahrain:

"It’s great to be here in Bahrain ahead of pre-season testing, also knowing we now officially have James [Vowles] on board.

"We had our rollout at Silverstone last week - which was great to get those first laps in - and whilst the conditions at Silverstone are completely different, getting those laps under our belts is still important.

"Now we’re here in Bahrain for proper testing, we’ll need to adjust to the different conditions, with 1.5 days each to get comfortable with the car.

"Ultimately, it’s not much, so we need to be proactive in getting the car in a decent place as quickly as possible, which I think we did a good job at last year.

"Hopefully, we have a better base to build off this season, however, it’s difficult to comment on at this stage."

Dave Robson, our Head of Vehicle Performance, is also fully focused on putting the FW45 through its paces, adding: "The FW45 arrives in Bahrain having previously completed a filming day run at Silverstone.

"We expect to build on this early running and complete significant mileage over the coming days as we continue to prepare the car and the drivers for the opening races of the season.

"We will share the running time evenly between Alex, who starts his second season with the team, and Logan, who joins the team after an impressive F2 campaign, a strong run in FW44 in Abu Dhabi, and a productive winter of training and simulator work.

"Our primary focus will be on ensuring that the car, team and drivers are race-ready for the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix. We will also be collecting some fundamental data on the FW45 performance, which will aid the ongoing development programme.

"The weather this week should be typical for Bahrain in February with pleasant, dry conditions, but with a potentially changeable and gusty wind.

"The team in Grove has worked tirelessly for many months and we are looking forward to getting the FW45 on track and continuing its journey towards the 2023 season."

The Bahrain International Circuit is a relative newcomer to the world for F1 testing venues, having previously hosted pre-season tests in 2014, 2021 and 2022.

However, we’ve been racing there since 2004. The clockwise circuit, with nine turns to the right and six to the left, has slowly grown into a fan favourite given the exciting racing and multitude of overtakes usually provided.

Spain’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has seen its fair share of tests over the decades, but one thing this island nation in the Persian Gulf has over continental Europe at this time of year is the climate. We’ll arrive in Bahrain knowing that the chances of having a session disrupted by the weather are incredibly slim.

That said, the Sakhir track is notoriously hot and often subjected to windy spells, resulting in sand flying across the track; so driving in Bahrain presents its own challenges and is far from a breeze for F1 drivers.

The 5.412km circuit boasts a good range of high, medium and low-speed corners, perfect for gathering a strong understanding of our new machine.

Those that enjoy the racing around here will no doubt be pleased to know that we’ll be doing so for the foreseeable future, with the Bahrain Grand Prix locked in right up to 2036.

Make sure you keep an eye on our social and digital channels throughout the three days of testing for exclusive Williams Racing content.