2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

[Dr. Acula]

Mercedes is not bad. Russell is +0.6

Yes, but Russel just said that they're especially concerned about their longrun pace, which seams to be almost 1s behind the lead.

[pantherxxx]

This new Mercedes engine with the new fuel must be really sh*tty. Aston Martin and Mclaren nowhere to be found.

[dialtone]

Yeah, McLaren in particular isn't suffering from porpoising all that much so to have them behind is puzzling, but they are known to go real slow in FP so it could really be Merc giving all teams guidelines on the PU to keep it very very low mode in FP.

[silver]

This new Mercedes engine with the new fuel must be really sh*tty. Aston Martin and Mclaren nowhere to be found.

There is something of that sort. There is no reason why neither Mercedes is running competitive modes and nor the partner teams.

[silver]

On long run pace, Haas and Alfa are ahead of McLaren! By about 8 tenths on the same tyres. Their race modes are slightly more aggressive than McLaren, but nothing over the top. Even if we give the benefit of doubt to McLaren on the race mode and heavier fuel load, they are almost on par.

[dialtone]

Reliability will play a much bigger role in the race. I have both Haas and Alfa in my Fantasy F1 team, but honestly it's so very likely that they'll break down in the race for whatever reason. BOT didn't even set a time in FP1...

[shamyakovic]

Verstappen again making all the difference. Perez is not even in the same dimension.

Perez didn't even do a proper quali simulation

[silver]

Maximum speeds.

1 MAG 320
2 VER 317
3 ALO 315
4 GAS 314
5 SCH 314
6 OCO 314
7 TSU 313
8 SAI 313
9 BOT 312
10 ALB 312
11 LEC 311
12 LAT 311
13 PER 311
14 ZHO 310
15 RIC 309
16 NOR 308
17 RUS 307
18 STR 306
19 HUL 303
20 HAM 289

[PlatinumZealot]

This new Mercedes engine with the new fuel must be really sh*tty. Aston Martin and Mclaren nowhere to be found.

Invent a technical reason at least? This is the standard we have come to after all the work done by the Moderators?

[PlatinumZealot]

Maximum speeds.

1 MAG 320
2 VER 317
3 ALO 315
4 GAS 314
5 SCH 314
6 OCO 314
7 TSU 313
8 SAI 313
9 BOT 312
10 ALB 312
11 LEC 311
12 LAT 311
13 PER 311
14 ZHO 310
15 RIC 309
16 NOR 308
17 RUS 307
18 STR 306
19 HUL 303
20 HAM 289

Something fishy is going on with those Merc engines!

[101FlyingDutchman]

Don’t know if the actual mechanical side of the PU still suffers from increased wear/performance losses compared to say a Honda engine. Hence they run it low powered in practice sessions? After all they need to last!

[Mchamilton]

Don’t know if the actual mechanical side of the PU still suffers from increased wear/performance losses compared to say a Honda engine. Hence they run it low powered in practice sessions? After all they need to last!

Or mercedes have taken the decision to have bigger power delta between their practice mode and theyre quali/race mode, for a reliabilty/engine longevity gain

[dialtone]

Maximum speeds.

1 MAG 320
2 VER 317
3 ALO 315
4 GAS 314
5 SCH 314
6 OCO 314
7 TSU 313
8 SAI 313
9 BOT 312
10 ALB 312
11 LEC 311
12 LAT 311
13 PER 311
14 ZHO 310
15 RIC 309
16 NOR 308
17 RUS 307
18 STR 306
19 HUL 303
20 HAM 289

Something fishy is going on with those Merc engines!

HAM didn't have DRS afaik. Aside from that those engines aren't that far down compared to LEC or BOT. 3-4kmh on a straight aren't quite as critical as 3-4kmh in a corner. They could be in a lower mode though, not sure if that will fill the 0.5s gap from RUS.

[SchuMassa]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOJPMYdWQAk ... =4096x4096

Hmm. Lets give 0.6s to all Mercedes teams..

New pecking order if porpoising solved and engine turned up:

Mercedes, RedBull, Ferrari
+0.5s
McLaren, Alfa
Alpine, Haas
Aston, Alpha Tauri
+0.5s
Williams

At the moment, nothing indicates that Mercedes is on the same pace as Red Bull or Ferrari. Even if they are, I don't think you can presume McLaren and Aston will gain 0.6s, too.

[JPower]

Toni is usually pretty accurate on practice analysis.