Red Bull the benchmark, says Wolff

• Toto Wolff says Red Bull look like the early standard in Bahrain testing, based on Mercedes data.
• Wolff claims Red Bull can deploy more electrical energy on straights, and do it repeatedly across long runs.
• Lando Norris topped day one, but tyre compounds, fuel loads and hidden setups mean lap times still mislead.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says Red Bull are the early “benchmark” as Formula 1 pre-season testing ramps up in Bahrain, even though McLaren’s reigning world champion Lando Norris set the fastest lap on day one.

Norris was quickest on the opening day of the first of two Bahrain tests, 0.129 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Wolff said Mercedes data suggested Red Bull’s new engine is currently more effective than rival power units, particularly in how it uses electrical energy on the straights.

Wolff said: “They are able to deploy far more energy on the straights than everybody else.

“You are speaking a second, over consecutive laps.

“On a single lap we have seen it before, but now we have seen it on 10 consecutive laps with the same kind of straight line deployment.

“I would say that as per today, on the first official day of testing, which is always with the caveat of that, they have set the benchmark.”

This season features major regulation changes, with power units, chassis, tyres and fuel all new. The 1.6 litre V6 turbo hybrid engines now produce power with a near 50 50 split between combustion and electrical output, increasing the importance of managing energy recovery and deployment.

Energy use is central to performance because the battery is constantly being depleted and recharged on virtually every straight. Teams can recover energy in four main ways, including under braking, revving the engine through corners, lifting early before a corner, and harvesting while still on full throttle. With so much depending on hybrid performance, any advantage in deployment could be decisive.