MANAMA, Bahrain -- Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time world champion Michael, made his Formula One debut on Tuesday at the wheel of this year's Ferrari.

Schumacher, who currently races in Formula 2, is due to take part in both days of this week's test, driving for Ferrari on Tuesday and Alfa Romeo on Wednesday.

For a generation of F1 fans, the Schumacher name is synonymous with the success of Ferrari following a series of five world titles for Schumacher's father between 2000 and 2004. Mick Schumacher joined Ferrari as part of its young driver academy over the winter, following the same route current Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc took into the sport in recent years.

Schumacher won the F3 title last year after a turnaround in form midway through the season. His first F2 race at the weekend in Bahrain was solid if not spectacular, finishing eighth in the feature race and sixth in the sprint race after starting on a reverse grid pole position. A move up to F1 in the future will likely depend on how he performs in the feeder series over the rest of the year.

Although expectations are high around Schumacher's debut this week, his first day is likely to be a straightforward test session as Ferrari aims to get a better understanding of its car after the first two races. Sebastian Vettel will take over driving duties for the Italian team on Wednesday in an attempt to resolve the setup issues he had throughout the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.

All ten teams are present in Bahrain for the two-day test, with McLaren and Toro Rosso running a second car as part of Pirelli's test programme. The second Pirelli-run McLaren has allowed Fernando Alonso to make a return to F1 for the first time since his farewell race in Abu Dhabi last year. The Spaniard has made clear the test is not a precursor for a full return, but continues to leave the door ajar should the right opportunity come up.

Sebastian Vettel is not committing to Formula 1 beyond 2020.

The Ferrari driver says there is too much uncertainty about what the regulations will look like under the new Concorde Agreement.

"I'm certain I really want to drive this year and next year; then I don't know what happens to the regulations," Vettel, a quadruple world champion, told the Sunday Times. "I certainly can't sit here and say 'no (I won't quit)' just for the sake of being in Formula 1."

Ferrari is also playing hardball regarding 2021, amid rumors Liberty Media wants to drastically cut the amount of extra funding that is pushed to the Maranello-based team.

There are now widespread reports that the top teams are giving themselves until December, rather than the end of June, to sign deals with the F1 owner.

"I think it's important to negotiate the right deal, and we should take the time to do it," said Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto.

Vettel says his big issue is that F1 is steadily becoming more a show and a business than a sport.

"A lot of the values that used to be around, they are only partly around (now)," he said. "You can say the same probably for other sports, but maybe in other sports it doesn't filter down as much to the actual athlete as much as it does here."

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who is no stranger to managing drivers and issuing team orders at his own team, expects the situation at Ferrari to cause his rivals headaches as the season progresses.

"You can see that already," he said. "I don't know if I see all the calls but there was one call which said, 'stay behind for the next two laps,' so I'm really looking forward to seeing how that pans out. I was there many years ago [with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg]."

In terms of racing, Formula One couldn’t have asked for more out of this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix—hard racing, contact, spins in the middle of the field and at the front of it, and a winner no one expected come Sunday. All of it happened in front of a record U.S. television audience, too, according to ESPN.

ESPN announced the record Tuesday, saying an average of 711,000 viewers watched the ESPN2 telecast Sunday. The announcement said that made it the largest U.S. television audience on record for Bahrain,which started at 11 a.m. ET, and that it was the second-largest U.S. cable audience for an F1 race on record. The only telecast to beat it, the announcement said, was the Monaco Grand Prix on ESPN last year, which had an average of 820,000 at 8 a.m. ET.

The number from Sunday is also up from an average of 692,000 viewers for the Bahrain race on the same channel last year, according to ESPN, and up from the 413,000 who watched on CNBC in 2017. The slight jump in viewership comes not long after the Netflix series on F1, Drive to Survive,came out, but it’s hard to say whether any of that is related.

Not only were the numbers from the Bahrain telecast up this year, but ESPN’s announcement said viewership of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix was up as well—from 175,000 watching on ESPN2 in 2018 to 659,000 this year. A 277-percent audience increase for an event that started at 1 a.m. ET isn’t terrible.

Higher viewership is always good, but those numbers are nothing to put on a T-shirt when compared to numbers for series like NASCAR and IndyCar. NASCAR viewership remains in the millionsdespite precipitously dropping ratings, while the average number of viewers for the 12 IndyCar races in 2017 was 507,000. Those series have an edge in the U.S. in that they run here, and their race times correspond with times when U.S. viewers are typically awake—something that’s not always the case in F1, which has a worldwide audience.

Fernando Alonso may have stepped away from Formula 1 at the end of 2018. But just four months into 2019, he was already back in an F1 car – and having sampled McLaren’s current-spec MCL34 during testing in Bahrain, the Spaniard appeared impressed with the work the team had done.

“Obviously it’s a step forward in every aspect of the car,” said Alonso after his two days of running at Sakhir. “I think the car has more grip, the car is less draggy on the straights. The engine is a bigger step better as well. Overall, as a package, I think the car is on the right direction.

“I think this year there is a good baseline and good programme of development, and I think it’s going to be a much better season. I’m happy. Especially last year, it was a good start, but then we stopped the development probably in May or June, so that was painful until Abu Dhabi. I knew that it was my final season as well, so to run with the same car from Barcelona to Abu Dhabi was painful.

“Obviously we saw in the first two races [of 2019] there is still another step to do if you want to compete with the top three teams. But as a first step I think, [to be the] fourth team or leading the midfield together with Haas, that’s the target. I felt that on the car as well.”

You’ll notice we didn’t say that Alonso ‘retired’ from Formula 1, with the Spaniard cunningly leaving the door open when he announced his departure from the sport to allow a possible return if the mood took him further down the line. So had driving McLaren’s 2019 offering provided the impetus for the two-time champion to consider a comeback?

“Not really,” said Alonso, who will now switch his attention to making his second attempt at the Indianapolis 500 in May. “I think what I had to achieve in Formula 1... it was achieved already in the past. No regrets.

“If one day I come back in Formula 1 – which I doubt because my decision is firm to stop Formula 1 – it’s if I win a world championship. That possibility is tempting for any driver. But to finish seventh or sixth, or even fourth, it’s not tempting still.”

Current McLaren drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris can rest easy, then…

The engine that thwarted Charles Leclerc's push for a sure victory in Bahrain will be back in the red car next weekend.

That is the news from Sky Italia, reporting that after an analysis at Maranello, the engine problem has been isolated to a "damaged cylinder injector".

"The engine is safe for China," the report said.

Romain Grosjean has backed the idea of Formula 1's race stewards being more relaxed about driving standards, but has warned against making the sport rough-and-tumble like Formula E.

As Motorsport.com revealed over the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, the FIA stewards and race director Michael Masi met with drivers to discuss how best to deal with rules of engagement in wheel-to-wheel racing.
It comes amid the battle to find the right balance between being too harsh with penalties that stops drivers fighting each other, or being too relaxed and letting bad behaviour creep in.

Grosjean, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), said that he would welcome things being a bit more relaxed, but without going to extremes.
"I don't think we want to go crazy, but I think if it's not intentional and you go for an overtaking manoeuvre and you lock up and you touch, then it's not the end of the world," said the Haas driver.

"If you do a Grosjean at Spa 2012 or a [Nico] Hulkenberg at Spa last year - okay, it's not intentional, but it's got big consequences so it's got to be penalised. Same as [Sergio] Perez in Singapore.

"But on lap one if you brake a bit late, or what I had in Austin with Charles Leclerc, I felt sorry I spun him, but his race was already dead because he had damage on the front wing and the floor, so I think the consequences were not that bad.

"I think it's a racing incident. His race was compromised, so what do we do? I think we should just say, 'well, it's lap one, everyone wants a position'.

"But we don't want Formula E, because I think Formula E has gone a bit too far. But if you touch someone anyway [in F1] your car is broken."

Grosjean said he welcomed the discussions with FIA stewards, including Garry Connelly, because it was important that drivers could get their point of view across.

"If I'm the head of the GPDA, it's because I'm interested in the sport and I want to make it better," he explained.

"It was really good from Garry and Michael to hear what we've got to say. Because the fact is we don't want to go into a braking zone trying to overtake someone and thinking 'oh, if I lock up and I touch him, that's going to be a penalty'. We want racing.

"S**t's going to happen over 21 races, but it always balances itself, I think, in the end. I think it's good that we can go racing, and we can fight.

"Obviously there are a few things that we don't want to see, and moving under braking is a big one, because to me that's the biggest danger nowadays. I think if that's really something we're strict on, for the rest, we should be allowed to race and have fun."

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expects a Formula 1 driver will crash out of a race while trying to score the new bonus point for fastest lap.
“I am always sceptical about our guys putting in the fastest lap,” said Wolff, “because one day someone’s going to end up in the wall and throw away a lot of points. And I hope it’s not going to be a Mercedes.”

Wolff has previously told his drivers not to push at the end of races to score the extra point, which was reintroduced to F1 this year. However he described the rule as a “good idea” which has created “discussion whether you take risks or nor.”

The appearance of a Safety Car in the final laps of the Bahrain Grand Prix ruled out any late attempts to set fastest lap. Wolff pointed out Red Bull could have had an opportunity to put Max Verstappen on a fresh set of tyres to go for the bonus, but the team wanted to take advantage of a potential chance to pass Charles Leclerc’s ailing Ferrari for third place.

“I think that if not for Leclerc, Max would have had a free stop,” said Wolff. “That fell away when Charles had the problem.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the team was considering a late pit stop for Verstappen. “If you look at it, you’ve got a free pit stop for a point,” he said. “It would be worth a roll of the dice at that point. It opens up a new dynamic which is interesting.”

Wolff’s driver Valtteri Bottas is leading the championship thanks to the bonus point he scored in the Australian Grand Prix. He said the fastest lap points could make the difference at the end of the year.

“They are points that will count at the end of the championship,” he said. “Obviously, now, at this point, it doesn’t matter much but what matters is at the end of the championship and we’ve seen many championships finishing with very small margins.”

Mercedes has brought further updates for the Formula 1 grand prix in China, debuting a brand new endplate design for the third race of 2019.

Having started pre-season testing with a launch spec that had an endplate that appeared to direct airflow inwards, Mercedes switched to its race-spec front wing design for the second week which aimed to recoup the commonly-exploited outwash effect.

This came with a small rectangular cutout in the top corner closest to the wheel, helping air to rotate and spill out around the front tyres.

The team has now built on this concept, seeking to develop that outwash further without compromising on its front wing ethos, which draws more downforce from the outboard portions.
As seen from Giorgio Piola's exclusive shots from the Shanghai pitlane, the length of the endplate has been cut away slightly to produce a curved trailing edge.

This leaves the trailing edge corner of the uppermost element exposed, opening up the space between the wing and the front tyre.

As a result, the outwash effect can be observed much earlier, and the exposed element generates a stronger tip vortex as a result of the high pressure flow on top having the chance to roll underneath into the low pressure area.

While this trims the overall downforce output, the oncoming airflow can turn the tip vortex around the front wheel to strengthen the desired outwash effect.

The two allowable strakes on the underside of the wing are also positioned far outboard, helping to further enhance the effect of pushing rotational airflow around the car, which also counts on the footplate ending earlier on the endplate's geometry.

Red Bull conducted back-to-back testing of front wings during the Bahrain tests, and have emerged in China with the specification used during the race weekend at Sakhir.

That specification featured a small slit on the inboard side of the third wing element, where the top two flaps were also truncated slightly to manage vorticity further along.

This was tested against the launch spec wing, where those top two elements extended further downwards - while the endplate featured a small cutout, unlike the eventual Bahrain specification.

A report from Italy contends that Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Mazepin held talks in China with Williams over acquiring a controlling stake in the British outfit.

According to the Italian edition of Motorsport.com, Mazepin - who is the chairman of mineral fertilizer giant Uralchem and also the father of F2 racer Nikita Mazepin - approached Williams about a month ago.

While it was believed at the time that the Belarus-born billionaire was perhaps interested in furthering his son's career thanks to a potential involvement with Williams, the Motorsport.com report claims that talks actually centered around Mazepin taking over the beleaguered outfit.

Last summer, the Russian had already put himself on the ranks to buy Force India. And when the deal was sealed with Lawrence Stroll's investment consortium to take over the team's assets, Mazepin initiated legal proceedings against the administrators of the Force India team, claiming the outfit's sale process was "flawed".

Williams has suffered a painful drop in performance since 2017, the Grove-based outfit's drivers consistently racing at the tail end of the grid.

Engineering and design deficiencies set back the team last season and its been even worse this year with an FW42 chassis that first suffered from a production delay before a fundamental design flaw came to light.

The team's painful state of affairs led to the departure earlier this year of technical director Paddy Lowe and to questions surrounding deputy team principal Claire Williams' ability to lead the British squad out of its enduring slump.

For all the team's under-performance on the race track in the past few years, parent company Williams Grand Prix Holdings recently disclosed surprisingly healthy financial results for 2018.

The company's positive balance sheet, coupled with the Williams family's unwillingness to throw in the towel, would appear to make a takeover an unlikely proposition, regardless of the identity of a potential suitor.

A former Force India development driver, Nikita Mazepin will dovetail this year his F2 schedule with ART with a private F1 testing programme set up in a association with Mercedes.

Taking a leaf out of Lance Stroll's book of how to become an F1 driver, Mazepin will accumulate mileage at various venues onboard a 2017 Mercedes W08.

Will Dmitry Mazepin follow fellow billionaire Lawrence Stroll's lead and acquire his own F1 team to fast-track his son's career?

Perhaps a few curious minds at Williams would like to know...

Sergio Perez believes his past decision to race for McLaren in 2013 to the detriment of a deal to join Ferrari a year later was a big career mistake.

Speaking to Formula 1's Tom Clarkson in the sport's latest 'Beyond the Grid' podcast, Perez revealed that as a member of Ferrari's driver academy, he was offered a pre-contract with the Scuderia for 2014 during his second F1 season with Sauber.

The potential agreement would have meant a third season with the Swiss outfit for the Mexican who opted instead to accept a one-year deal with McLaren for 2013, a move that irrevocably forced him away from the House of Maranello.

"I think probably given how McLaren was at that time that ride came just at the wrong moment for me," Perez remembers.

"Because if you go back to 2012, I was a Ferrari member, I was going to get a contract for 2014, I had to stay one more year with Sauber and then get the ride with Ferrari.

"I went to Maranello and discussed with Domenicali, he told me ‘let’s do a pre-contract for 2014."

As a young up-and-coming F1 charger, Perez found himself in a good place at the end of 2012, with several high-profile suitors ready to bid for his services.

"At that time Mercedes was interested, Ferrari was and McLaren so I was in a really strong position back then. And I thought to myself ‘I need to get into a competitive car because I can win the title’

"The opportunity with McLaren came and McLaren was winning races, was fighting for titles for the last five years, so how can you say no? It was quite an obvious thing."

As glaring and promising as his McLaren opportunity appeared to be, it was also perhaps in hindsight the worst possible choice, compounded by a one-year contract that was equally detrimental to Perez's interests.

"I had to say basically goodbye to the Ferrari academy and I went to McLaren," recounts the Racing Point driver.

"I think the mistake there was to sign a one-year deal. My management at the time didn’t do a solid job with the contract.

"That was a sad thing, I think that has damaged my reputation in Formula 1. But then I came to a fantastic team and I had good success with the team."