Who’s where in the 2024 F1 pecking order after testing? Sky Sports F1 analyst gives verdict. Sky Sports F1 analyst reflects on a pecking order top six heading to next week's season-opening race.

Anthony Davidson, the British former racing driver, currently working as an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel, makes an initial prediction for the top six Formula 1 teams in terms of race pace, looking ahead to the season opener, which is set to take place next week at the 5.412 km Bahrain International Circuit located in Sakhir. His predictions are as follows based on observations from the current pre-season testing sessions in Bahrain:

“Red Bull clearly ahead, particularly like we saw on day one when Max was in the car. It looked pretty effortless when they put new tyres on. So I would see them clear of the field. On race pace, I’m going to put Mercedes second. In terms of qualifying it would probably be Ferrari second, but in race pace I am seeing good qualities from that Mercedes on the longer runs.” – he believes.

“Lewis looked good behind the wheel yesterday on the longer runs and George as well before that on day one. It’s a marked difference from the car in how it performs from what I can see at least. So I’d say on race pace it’s Mercedes closely followed by Ferrari and McLaren. Then I’d put RB behind McLaren before Aston Martin. I think RB could be the surprise of the field, that’s my gut feeling. Not [as the] Aston Martin of last year. I’m not seeing the performance of Aston from last year here, that was a real standout.” – the Sky Sports F1 analyst continued.

Asked to comment specifically about Scuderia Ferrari’s performance based on the data collected from the pre-season testing session, Anthony Davidson replied:

“Carlos Sainz’s fastest time yesterday was only two tenths away from Max Verstappen’s pole position time from last year so it really goes to show the progress all teams have made since this time last year. We can expect them to be much, much faster perhaps by the end of the day, maybe even early on as there is less wind tunnel.” – he pointed out.

“It looks like the Ferrari is pretty drivable, it moves around a bit on the bumps, and Charles Leclerc also put in a good performance in the morning. The Ferrari does look pretty competitive but it’s not as competitive as the Red Bull of course. Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin it’s very hard to choose between them.” – the Sky Sports F1 analyst concluded on the final day of testing in Bahrain.