Anthony Davidson names the one F1 team that looked better than Red Bull at turn one in testing

Follow us on Google Discover

Anthony Davidson has shared that from what he saw at turn one in Bahrain, Aston Martin’s 2024 car looked even better than Red Bull’s RB20 on the first morning of testing.

Formula 1 is finally back in action after the winter break and Aston Martin sent Fernando Alonso out to do their first run of the year.

Speaking on Sky Sports F1, Davidson returned to the commentary box after spending some time out on track watching the cars close up.

Davidson impressed with Aston Martin on day one of pre-season testing

The biggest question heading into the 2024 season is whether anyone can catch Red Bull.

After they delivered the most dominant campaign in F1 history, the lack of changes to the sport’s regulations meant that the rest of the field had an opportunity to catch up.

That’s led Red Bull to make a few surprising changes to their car, but also given the rest of the grid time to assess how they won so many races and take what they learned into account.

Aston Martin started 2023 brilliantly and although their rivals caught up to them throughout the season, it’s clear that they’re experts at taking what worked well the year before and putting it into action.

Anthony Davidson was very impressed with what he saw heading into turn one from Aston Martin during testing.

Although there was one aspect of the first two corners that Red Bull were better at, Alonso’s car looked better balanced throughout the whole complex.

It’s still very early days though and even if Red Bull have been suffering from some understeer issues, they’ll be confident they can iron that out relatively quickly.

Aston Martin looking to build on positive 2023

Asked who looked the best on track from where he was standing, Davidson said: “Where I was at turn one, was actually a very slow-speed part of the track.

“You’re scrubbing off a huge amount of speed from travelling at 185 miles-per-hour down to around 50 miles-per-hour at the apex and that’s all done within about 100, 120 metres.

“Onto your first question, for me, the Aston Martin looked pretty good in that particular part of the track.

“It was well poised on the braking, it looked easy to tuck into the apex where you need it, the rear looks pretty good when you get on the power early on and then as you build up the speed through turn two, the rear was still nicely settled.

“That’s what you’re looking for.

“The Red Bull looked a bit of a handful in the very slow speed part with the rear sliding too much.

“But the braking was OK, but then as you build up speed through turn two, the car for me looked the best, But it also looked very heavy, it looked lethargic in its change of direction.”

Davidson’s assessment of Aston Martin’s start to pre-season testing will encourage Mike Krack’s team.

Alonso will not only be hoping he can build on his eight podiums in 2023 but finally end his long wait for another race win.

He’s determined to beat Lance Stroll to that accolade which shouldn’t be a huge challenge given the gulf in quality between the two drivers last year.

However, the Canadian does have a pole position and several podiums to his name highlighting that anything can happen in Formula 1.