FP1 bahrain debrief

Photo accreditation: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1

It was hot. Really hot. 35 degrees in the air and an overheated track of almost 50 degrees were the unforgiving conditions for Vesti when he got his third opportunity in his career to get into the cockpit of an F1 car in the first of the F1 weekend's three practices, starting Friday, ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Skids and lack of grip on the hard tires made the first part of the practice a rather unpredictable affair for many of the drivers.

W16 is the name of Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1's version of this year's car. It is no stranger to Vesti, who since 2024 has driven almost 1000 laps in the car in the simulator. In Bahrain, simulation became a thing of the past and Vesti did 26 "real" laps.

Best time overall was P18 in the strong field of F1 drivers and 5 other rookies. Only Red Bull's Ayumu Iwasa and Vesti's teammate Kimi Antonelli were slower than Vesti. For Antonelli, the slower lap times than usual were primarily due to the fact that he had to leave the track after only 3 laps due to technical problems. Vesti himself was neither slow nor bad. In fact, he was so good that team boss Toto Wolff praised him with an "Excellent Job Fred!" after Vesti's working day was over.

Vesti was not to be measured on fast lap times this Friday. He, along with Iwasa and Antonelli, did not get the opportunity to shine personally, simply because the red soft tires - the fastest in F1 - never came into play. But Vesti's best time on the medium tire was fast enough for P5.

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On a purely selfish level, of course I would have liked to have finished as one of the fastest in the field. That's what we racing drivers live for. But that was never the plan for my 26 laps in the car. I knew that in advance. There were other things at stake for the team in terms of getting the most data out of the car for future use and running a serious test program. 

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My experience from the simulator as the Mercedes driver who has driven the most mileage in the car is a crucial piece for understanding the correlation between the simulator and what happens on the track. What I love the most is being allowed to sit behind the wheel during an F1 weekend, but then I also love being allowed to be this piece that ties it all together. Still, it was unexpected to get the recognition I got from Toto. It was great!

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Vesti pointed out the importance of getting in the car early in the season, as happened with Bahrain.

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If I'm going to impress people, I shouldn't do it when all the contracts are signed at the end of the season. That's why it meant everything to me to get in the game so early in the year. My practice session was noticed and commented on by many. It can be used to kick some doors a little harder and stay on people's radar. I also hope to get a lot of test kilometers in my legs in the two-year-old F1 car that the teams are allowed to use for testing (TPC) during the year. In two years I have driven approx. 300 km in an F1 car. That corresponds to what many of my competitors who test are covering as a minimum in a single day.

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If successful, Vesti could be a good bet to fill an F1 seat in 2026.