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The F1 pre-season test at Barcelona took place just two weeks ago. If one looks at the landscape in F1, however, it is so dynamic and things change so quickly, it is hard to keep track sometimes.
This is exactly what has happened this time around as well. In just two weeks, the world of F1 has seen changes, some of which were predicted while others were a bit of a surprise.
In this piece, we take a look at the new developments we have had in F1 since the Barcelona F1 pre-season test.
#1 Nikita Mazepin is out
Nikita Mazepin recently received his marching orders from Haas after the Russian funding received by the American team came under scrutiny.
Haas was sponsored quite heavily by Uralkali (around 20%), a Russian organization owned by Nikita Mazepin's father. Haas, however, had to let go of the funding, keeping in mind the global climate due to the war between Russia and Ukraine. Consequently, Mazepin too found himself losing out on a seat that had come as part of a packaged deal with the sponsorship.
The team is currently looking to finalize the second driver for Haas with multiple contenders in the running.
#2 Max Verstappen and Red Bull come out in support of Michael Masi
Michael Masi lost his place as the race director after the FIA's management shuffle as part of fixing what happened at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In a slightly peculiar move, Masi was replaced by two different race directors alongside a multitude of other changes.
While the move was welcomed by a section of fans, it didn't gain too much affirmation from Max Verstappen and Red Bull. The duo were rather muted about their opinion when the steps were taken.
After the first test, Verstappen was questioned about the decision to remove Masi. The Dutch driver was pretty open in his support of the former Race Director and claimed that what happened to him was unfair.
Christian Horner also added to the conversation by saying that Red Bull was against Masi losing his job and had voted against it. Amidst the controversy, Mercedes and Red Bull find themselves on opposing sides even before a single lap of a race has been completed.
#3 F1 will be keeping an eye on the fast new generation cars
It was slightly surprising to see the new-age cars being so quick out of the blocks. Initial estimates about the cars had pegged them to be about three seconds slower than their previous generation. After the conclusion of the first pre-season test, the cars, however, are expected to be more or less just a second slower by the time we start racing.
While it is great to see cars not losing ground to the previous generation, the quicker the cars, the less conducive they will be for overtaking (difficult to follow and shorter braking distances). F1 has taken note of this and the sport's managing director Ross Brawn has been quoted as suggesting that the regulations might see a minor change that could organically slow down the cars even further.
It will be interesting to see if this happens because that move is surely going to impact some teams more than others.
