What can F1 fans learn from 2024 pre-season testing?

Or it wouldn’t were such pre-season F1 tests not all utter cobblers. It is not only track conditions, time of day, fuel load, powertrain settings, tyre choice and driver briefings that make all these times meaningless, it is that all the teams will be doing all they can to conceal how fast (or slow) their cars really are. You can’t even trust what the drivers say any more because none is likely to utter so much as a syllable without it being signed off by the PR and marketing bods first.

So what’s left? What small fragments of information remain to be pored over that might provide at least an indication as to who’s where in the 2024 Formula 1 pecking order? Almost none. You’re left looking at body language, both of the teams in the pits and the cars on the track, and very little else. But if you do, I think we can safely say it would be a major surprise if Red Bull did not remain the dominant package at the first race. Whether its advantage is greater, smaller or about the same as last year, it is impossible to say.

Mercedes seems to have had a good test and it would be only a little less surprising if it did not have its most competitive start to a season since 2021. Enough to provide an enduring challenge to Red Bull? I hope so, but I doubt it. Beyond that, who knows? Certainly not me.