2021 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 26 - 28

[Hammerfist]

What a fabulous lap by Verstappen .. almost perfect and class of his own. His teammates are struggling to cope up with his talent.

Thats what happens when you make a car for just 1 person. This is now the 3rd teammate who can get nowhere near him. I think Verstappen and RedBull need to remember this when they start bitching that Verstappen is getting mugged by a double team all the time. You either make compromises so both can drive it or you don’t. RedBull clearly don’t.

Look at Mercedes as an example they clearly made a car that both Rosberg and Hamilton could drive. Then they did it again with Bottas and Hamilton. I have no doubt if they wanted to they could make a car that Hamilton could drive like a comfy slipper but that then means Bottas struggles.

I agree. Gasly's recent comments about his stint at Redbull and the last 2 years' history suggest that indeed the team's entire focus seems to be on Verstappen and it is costing whoever is in that second seat. The thing with Merc is that they do not put any driver above the team, even while they have a Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher on their team while you get the sense that Redbull puts Max above anyone on the team. Can Redbull win the championships and beat the still mighty Mercedes with that approach now that they seem to have the best car? This year will tell us.

[jjn9128]

it's a funny situation to term max's lap as a great lap. last year, with a difficult car and with less powerful engine, he was over 1.5 seconds faster. compared to that, this is like trundling around. relative positioning is what matters and to that extent, it was a great lap. credit to him.

in 2016, drivers and fans wanted faster cars that test the driver's physical capabilities and the regulations were revised to add like over 3 seconds to the car. nobody wanted grandma driving. f1 was happy with the changes and cars were really fast and got faster in the next few years. fast forward to 2021, pirelli wasn't upto the mark and f1 decided to help them and has taken f1 back to 2016 levels of speed with such small changes in regulations. billions of dollars spent on cars and engines have been reduced to knot to help one single parameter. f1 managers are funny crop indeed.

I don't think you can call it Grandma driving

If anything we've seen over the last 4 years just how much of a mistake the 2017 rules were, just making the cars faster without considering any of the implications was just stupid. But F1 won't address the root issues in F1, because F1 has caused them and won't be seen to back out or copy other series.


On topic though, for the first time in a while I'm actually interested in how the race today will play out. Merc looked better on the harder tyre, Verstappen wasn't that far inside the 12 cutoff, Perez will find it tough to get through the McLarens, Ferraris, Alonso but has tyre choice.

[ferkan]

On 2nd run Max was almost 1s up in first 2 sectors on medium tires. I think his first lap was just so so hence Merc being ahead

[MKlaus]

I don't think you can call it Grandma driving

i took the quote from max.

[mkay]

What a fabulous lap by Verstappen .. almost perfect and class of his own. His teammates are struggling to cope up with his talent.

You do realise Perez was only trailing him by 3 tenths in Q2? Sadly, given track evolution, that’s all it took to knock him out...

[mkay]

On 2nd run Max was almost 1s up in first 2 sectors on medium tires. I think his first lap was just so so hence Merc being ahead

Max second Q2 run was on softs but he slowed down before the line. His 2nd Q2 run was faster than his first Q3 run actually.

[Stu]

I have a feeling mazepin is going to be well out of his depth this season.

I question if he will last the entire season.

Billions of Roubles suggests that he probably will!!

[McMika98]

Perez did only lose out by 3 tenths to Max, in his first ever qualy session for RedBull. In the RB16B that he has used for 15 hours.

Nope, Stats will show he was 1.6s slower than Max in Quali. Thats how it has always been, no ifs and buts. If you want to compare like for like on the same track condition, he was outperformed by Gasly on a much slower car. RedBull no longer have the issues that plagued the car over two years, Honda is top of the field, Max had floor damage worth 1 tenth from Q1, so he has no excuses for having the fastest car. Only one race so too early but he needs to out-qualify Merc who are struggling at the start and in Redbull territory last year.

[nevill3]

Pirelli thought the new construction of the soft tyre would make it the favoured race tyre and expected teams to use it for the start of the race, it is 0.9 seconds faster than the medium so the teams starting on it will not fall behind so quickly after the start.

If the longevity matches the medium of the front runners there will be few gaps to pit in and get out ahead as happened previously and so the lead drivers may have to pit and come back out into traffic, this is where Perez may be able to help Max today. I expect Perez to start on the soft, I presume he has a new set, and will make up quite a few places early on.

The high winds today will play a major role in deciding the outcome of the race, Mercedes appeared susceptible as did McLaren, I would expect Aston Martin to be affected too.

[Stu]

I did notice that both Ferraris (Ferrarii?? ) will be starting on the red wall (soft tyres). Will that be an advantage in the opening laps? Could mix it up for the Mercs. I think that everyone else (bar Alonso and Stroll) start on mediums.

[nevill3]

McLaren are on the softs too

[Juzh]

- The gap was 0.4, but Hamilton messed up the middle sector so it would have probably been more like 0.2 ahead.

Hamilton had sub-optimal turn 10 with oversteer, but likewise Verstappen had an oversteer moment in T11 and lost a bit of time there compared to his first Q3 run. I'd say hamilton's "error" was bigger but these small mistakes are part of driving and can go both ways.

[MKlaus]

- The gap was 0.4, but Hamilton messed up the middle sector so it would have probably been more like 0.2 ahead.

Hamilton had sub-optimal turn 10 with oversteer, but likewise Verstappen had an oversteer moment in T11 and lost a bit of time there compared to his first Q3 run. I'd say hamilton's "error" was bigger but these small mistakes are part of driving and can go both ways.

max had a bit of damage to the floor that cost him a tenth.

[El Scorchio]

The margin was slim, but there’s no way Perez should have been eliminated in q2 in unquestionably the fastest car out there, when others made it through on the medium tyres.

You can probably put it down to lack of time behind the wheel, or maybe a too stubborn tyre selection, but with the midfield more bunched and arguably closer this year, you can’t be doing that too often.

[Big Tea]

Remember guys, so far we have only seen single lap, or clusters in actual race trim, and when they have to be repeated lap after lap without the cool down things can change.
They can of course change either way. Tyres degrade, single lap recovery, running in a cars wake etc are all going to come into play during a race.
Also, the car has to finish, and even 'long run' practice sessions were not what they wanted.

Early days yet, but it is looking closer than for many seasons, and I think Ferrari are, lets say not showing the full hand, so there could be 4 or even 6 teams in the running. Cant remember last time that happened.