2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

[Just_a_fan]

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

You think Petez is 1s slower than Max?

[Sieper]

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

You think Petez is 1s slower than Max?

That’s indeed wrong. It is 0.7. Check the data from last year.

[Redragon]

Russell face in post interview says it all. I think Mercedes is worried

[f1316]

Did Leclerc use two sets of softs or was his second flyer in the softs on the same set/same run?

[dialtone]

He had the same set of softs for the 2 attempts.

[Just_a_fan]

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

You think Petez is 1s slower than Max?

That’s indeed wrong. It is 0.7. Check the data from last year.

0.7s? Be happy to see your data.

[dialtone]

Merc's engine doesn't look that turned down, it seems more like RUS lifted before T14 for some reason.

Ferrari really seems to take T6 quite easy, other than that, judging by the top speed of the FER outside of the main straight, there's more to give for FER, quite a powerful engine actually.

[Sieper]

You think Petez is 1s slower than Max?

That’s indeed wrong. It is 0.7. Check the data from last year.

0.7s? Be happy to see your data.

It was “Average qualifying difference: 0.471s in favour of Verstappen” to be exact.

This is from gpblog. I have been searching for a super detailed comparison somebody made of all the laps driven/qualy, and then compared to the relative strength of your teammate (how good has he been in previous years). It was quite detailed. Max was the only one on top and then a group of leclerc, Lewis and Lando was the outcome. Maybe someone still remembers the link.

[Sieper]

Merc's engine doesn't look that turned down, it seems more like RUS lifted before T14 for some reason.

Ferrari really seems to take T6 quite easy, other than that, judging by the top speed of the FER outside of the main straight, there's more to give for FER, quite a powerful engine actually.

Yes, the Ferrari engine seems incredibly powerfull, again.

[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

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.

He did use DRS on his flying lap. But he was using a lower engine mode. I already mentioned that, he was switching the DRS on and off on the straight for his flying laps. The best top speed for a Ferrari engine was 320 by Magnussen, for Honda it was Verstappen on 317, for Renault it was Alonso with 315 and for Mercedes, it was Albon with 312. Between a Ferrari and a Mercedes customer teams, there is 8kph difference.



Last year's Bahrain qualifying speed trap.

[chrisc90]

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!

Keeping them all turned down because of the reliability issues off last year that hasn't been sorted??

[organic]

Long run analysis.
Credit to @tonisorkolov1011 on Twitter

I hope and believe Ferrari have not shown their hand but Max consistently 1s quicker than Sainz on their soft stint. Lap 10 max did 1.37.6 which is faster than every lap attempted by other drivers except for leclerc's one 37.1

If RB really did bring a weight reduction worth a few tenths for this weekend, the application of the update only to Max's car could explain the 1s gap to Perez - 0.7s last season was not unusual on pure pace.

[chrisc90]

Merc's engine doesn't look that turned down, it seems more like RUS lifted before T14 for some reason.

Ferrari really seems to take T6 quite easy, other than that, judging by the top speed of the FER outside of the main straight, there's more to give for FER, quite a powerful engine actually.

Max isnt even clicking into 8th gear on occasions compared to the other two aswell.

[dialtone]

You actually are correct, and he only had DRS on/off on the main straight.



So he was just driving slow in the detection zone, the engine doesn't seem turned down though, he mostly had same acceleration on every straight but the main straight and the straight after T13 although he used 8th gear while FER and RBR didn't. In T6 FER and RBR also downshifted, maybe heavier fuel load? LEC had a couple of correction inputs on throttle after T13 and T14, likely due to 2nd fast lap on those softs. Cool stuff, Merc will be more like RUS than like HAM for sure.

[dialtone]

Merc's engine doesn't look that turned down, it seems more like RUS lifted before T14 for some reason.

Ferrari really seems to take T6 quite easy, other than that, judging by the top speed of the FER outside of the main straight, there's more to give for FER, quite a powerful engine actually.

Max isnt even clicking into 8th gear on occasions compared to the other two aswell.

If you check the RPM graph for when they switch to 8th gear you can see that almost never neither RUS or LEC have RPMs go up by much after the 8th gear. Pair that with VER having longer gear ratio and you get the picture that it's not a big differentiator by itself.