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2024 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Verstappen opens ’24 campaign with dominant win in Bahrain, Perez P2 as Red Bull remain car to beat; Sainz out-duels Ferrari teammate Leclerc for P3

If there were any illusions remaining from the preseason that another team and driver could truly challenge the Red Bull/Max Verstappen era of dominance that was ushered in with the ground effects spec in 2022, they were quickly shattered in Round 1 of 2024. With the 2024 season starting in Bahrain on Saturday, Verstappen simply picked up where he left off last year when he had one of the most supreme seasons in F1 history. The flying Dutchman led the race’s opening lap from the pole, holding off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc into Turn 1, and then rapidly distanced the field in imperious fashion. By the time the 57 laps under the lights at Bahrain International Circuit were completed, he had led every lap, set the race’s fastest lap for the extra point and bested his second place teammate Sergio Perez by a whopping 22.457 seconds. With three consecutive Formula 1 World Championships under his belt, the smart money remains on Verstappen to rack up a fourth, which would tie Sebastian Vettel’s awesome title run with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013. While obviously you’ve got to hand it to a driver who is so superior to the rest of the field and so perfectly matched to his vehicle, another season of Verstappen and Red Bull crushing everyone without breaking a sweat is probably not what the Formula 1 brass — or the millions of viewers — really want to see. Still, with a new formula not scheduled to debut until 2026, it’s highly probable that, barring any sort of previously unforeseen reliability issues, it’s going to be the Max Verstappen show on most weekends the majority of the time. Get ready to hear a lot of the Dutch national anthem.

The real battles occurred for the places not on the top step and Perez was able to hold off Ferrari’s very game Carlos Sainz to make it a perfect Red Bull one-two on the day. The veteran Mexican pilot recovered from a subpar P5 qualifying effort to take the fight to George Russell’s Mercedes and the two Prancing Horses of Sainz and Charles Leclerc ahead of him. Despite running his final stint on the more delicate if faster Soft compound Pirellis, Perez was able to nurse his tires to the end and keep the Hard-shod Sainz behind him to earn second place. Nevertheless, it was a strong effort by the Spaniard as he embarks on his final season with Ferrari after being unceremoniously dumped by the Scuderia in favor of Lewis Hamilton for next year. Perhaps driving with a bit of chip on his shoulder from that surprising turn of events, Sainz made a couple off very aggressive passes on his teammate Leclerc, no team orders required, to secure that last spot on the podium. Despite being edged into fourth by his stablemate, Leclerc still had a solid effort in the newly redesigned Ferrari SF-24, particularly as he was plagued by brake or brake bias issues all race long that resulted in multiple lockups. These issues seemed to ease up for the Monegasque when he was not in the hot air of traffic and he was able to catch up and hound Russell into a mistake on Lap 46, overtaking as the Briton’s Silver Arrow slid off track at Turn 11, thereby locking down that P4 for keeps and the valuable 3-4 for Ferrari on the day.

Mercedes also had some technical issues related to overheating that dogged them early in the race in tight quarters but abated somewhat in clean air. Russell was able to keep Lando Norris’s McLaren behind him after Leclerc got by and came home a decent P5. Teammate Hamilton battled one or two gremlins of his own but improved on his poor P9 qualifying by two spots to take P7. Norris secured P6 and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri slotted in behind Hamilton in P8, essentially confirming that, with Red Bull not really in reach, the battle for second in the Constructors’ points will likely be a three-way battle between Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren. At least in this earliest of going, it looks like Aston Martin will not really be privy to that elite competition. After their blistering start to last year, the team plateaued around midway through 2023 and seem to have failed to develop during the offseason. Despite looking fairly quick in pre-season testing and the first qualifying effort of the year on Friday, Fernando Alonso could only muster a fairly distant P9 result, with teammate Lance Stroll backstopping him in P10. Stroll does deserve special mention for that otherwise pedestrian result because he not only started from twelfth on the grid but also need up facing the wrong way on the opening lap after tangling with the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg. So, a good recovery drive from the young Canadian but still, a 9-10 is not exactly where Aston dreamed they’d be today.

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 1:31:44.742 26
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 +22.457s 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 57 +25.110s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 57 +39.669s 12
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 57 +46.788s 10
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 57 +48.458s 8
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 57 +50.324s 6
8 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 57 +56.082s 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 57 +74.887s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 57 +93.216s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time and it’ll be another Friday qualifying/Saturday race in Saudi Arabia to accommodate the upcoming Ramadan holiday. There won’t be any time to really upgrade the cars so, look for Red Bull & Verstappen to have another romp when the action in Round 2 gets underway, though the much tighter Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit could provide some more incidents than we saw in today’s Safety Car-free running. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Verstappen picks up where he left off with first pole of 2024 in Bahrain; Leclerc edges Russel for second fastest; Hamilton & Perez adrift

The 2024 Formula 1 season officially kicked off with highly similar results to last year’s campaign as Red Bull’s defending three-time champion Max Verstappen once again blistered the field to take a relatively easy pole at the Bahrain International Circuit. With qualifying taking place on a rare Friday for the first two rounds of the season due to Saturday race days to accomodate the upcoming Ramadan holiday in the hosting Muslim countries, all the posing and posturing of pre-season testing and pre-qualifying practice was replace by the true test of which cars had the real pace. Once again it was the Red Bull in Verstappen’s capable hands that proved the rabbit all the others will have to chase this season. Verstappen bested the P2 of Charles Leclerc by a little over two-tenths and the typically fast-starting Monegasque was able to stay in front of George Russell’s Mercedes for P2 by a whisper thin .078 seconds. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who was unceremoniously dumped for next year in favor of Lewis Hamilton in the offseason’s biggest shockwave, set the fourth fastest time, while Hamilton could muster no better than a lowly P9 on his final attempt. One wonders if all the upgrades will now go to Russell during the course of the season since Hamilton has one foot out the door and in archrival Ferrari’s camp.

As he did in the second two-thirds of 2023, Sergio Perez again rather badly trailed Verstappen for pure pace and could only manage a time good enough for fifth on tomorrow’s grid. The ageless Fernando Alonso was solid in the Aston Martin for P6 and the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri set the seventh and eighth fastest times respectively. Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas rounded out the the top ten qualifiers and will start form P10 on the grid, just as he did in last year’s Bahrain season opener.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:30.031 1:29.374 1:29.179 17
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:30.243 1:29.165 1:29.407 19
3 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:30.350 1:29.922 1:29.485 17
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:29.909 1:29.573 1:29.507 18
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:30.221 1:29.932 1:29.537 17
6 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:30.179 1:29.801 1:29.542 14
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.143 1:29.941 1:29.614 15
8 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.531 1:30.122 1:29.683 18
9 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:30.451 1:29.718 1:29.710 18
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:30.566 1:29.851 1:30.502 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 10 AM Eastern on ESPN. Hope to see you then to find out if anyone can match this new year’s edition of Verstappen and Red Bull in race trim — I have my doubts!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Verstappen kicks off quest for three-peat with dominant victory in Bahrain; Perez P2 in ominously good start for Red Bull; Alonso nabs P3 podium on debut for improved Aston; Leclerc DNFs as Sainz settles for P4 for Ferrari

If, coming into the 2023 season, the nine other Formula 1 teams thought they had closed the gap to the sheer dominance of the Red Bull in reigning champion Max Verstappen’s hands, the first race of the year rapidly disabused them of that false confidence. The Dutch Master was back to his old tricks, picking up where he left off in 2022 in Abu Dhabi to give a master class in Round 1 this year at the Sakhir Circuit in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Verstappen drove away from pole towards an imperious victory on this 57-lap season-opener and it was clear easy that no other car could challenge his Red Bull. That included the sister Red Bull of his teammate, Sergio Perez, who finished P2 in the same equipment and running the same tire strategy. Perez came home nearly 12-seconds in arrears of his peerless two-time World Champion teammate, the Dutchman clearly proclaiming this intentions to make it three titles on the trot by the time this year’s 23 rounds are over.

But Verstappen’s absolute dominance was not even the biggest story of the day. While a Red Bull one-two to start the season had never been done before and so was notable, it was the sublime drive of veteran Fernando Alonso in the massively improved Aston Martin that mad the biggest splash in the desert of Bahrain. Driving his first race in anger for his new team, the 41-year-old Alonso showed all of his brilliance and decades of experience in a Formula 1 car to not only best the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in close combat but also the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz en route to a frankly astonishing P3 podium finish. This year’s Aston Martin has genuine pace and major aero upgrades over last year’s inconsistent chassis and Alonso put all of that to fine use when the team decided on a second stop over-cut strategy on Lap 34 against both Hamilton and Sainz, who had pitted on Lap 30 and 31 receptively. That forced the Spanish two-time World Champ to then have to pass both cars on the circuit, having given up track position to them by running a few laps longer. But Alonso warmed to his task with alacrity, getting by the Silver Arrow of Hamilton on Lap 38 after the English seven-time champion’s valiant pass-back on the previous lap, and then making relatively quick work of Sainz’s Prancing Horse on Lap 36 to grab P3, which is where he finished to the pure joy of his team at grabbing a podium so quickly in 2023. With Sainz finishing P4 and Hamilton in P5, the newfound pure pace of the Aston has got to now be a worry for both those ostensibly “superior” teams.

Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll also deserves special mention. Though he finished in P6, that was an excellent result for the young Canadian, who raced the demanding 57-laps with fractures in his wrist and toe after a pre-testing mountain bike accident. It was a determined and gutty effort by Stroll and it should only be up from here from him, as he continues to heal. No doubt he made his team owner and father Lawrence very proud, as well.

If Ferrari were chagrined at having Sainz bested by Alonso for the last podium position they were probably apoplectic at the fate of their ostensible team leader, Charles Leclerc. Expected to give Verstappen a stiff challenge for the title in 2023, the Monegasque’s SF-23 was clearly not as fast as the Red Bull RB19, though Leclerc was able to nab P2 from Perez on the opening lap due to starting on the Soft Pirelli tire compound vs. Perez’s Hards. While Leclerc conceded that second place back to Perez after the first round of pit stops, Leclerc was comfortably ahead of his teammate in P3 when his engine let go on Lap 41 and he had to retire the car. It was bit of a double whammy for Ferrari, as well, since the Scuderia had already changed a power store unit pre-race and if Leclerc’s engine is also toast that will be another limited use component on the road to the dreaded grid spot penalties for the various pivotal engine parts replacements. Not the start Ferrari was hoping for as they seek to inch closer to Red Bull.

While the number two Merc of George Russell finished in the points in P7, it was also not a day to remember for the young Briton. Russell struggled with his tire management and was clearly second best to Hamilton in Bahrain, not to mention the Stroll in P6. On the other hand, the final three of the Top 10 did yeoman’s work and exceeded expectations en route to valuable midfield points. Valtteri Bottas drove a typically canny and perhaps atypically aggressive race to maximize the performance for his Alfa Romeo while making a passel of late race passes and the team used a well-played undercut pit strategy to bring the veteran Finn home in P8. Pierre Gasly was even more impressive on debut with new team Alpine, starting from dead last on the grid after a dismal qualifying to finish a rather amazing P9. If it hadn’t been for Alonso’s heroics at Sakhir, Gasly certainly would have been driver of the day. The Williams of Alex Albon took the last point in P10 with a solid effort, while rookie teammate Logan Sargeant was P12. It was an encouraging start for what looks like a much improved Williams team and a nice F1 debut effort for the young American Sergeant, the first Yank in the series since Scott Speed way back in 2007.

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 1:33:56.736 25
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 +11.987s 18
3 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 57 +38.637s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 57 +48.052s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 57 +50.977s 10
6 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 57 +54.502s 8
7 63 George Russell MERCEDES 57 +55.873s 6
8 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 57 +72.647s 4
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 57 +73.753s 2
10 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 57 +89.774s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight — the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Can Alonso keep his mojo going? Do Ferrari and Mercedes have anything for Verstappen and Red Bull in Round 2? Look forward to seeing you then to find out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Reigning champ Verstappen picks up where he left off to nab pole for Round 1 of 2023 at Sakhir; Perez P2 for Red Bull front row lockout; Ferrari sacrifice Leclerc’s potential pole challenge for more strategy options in race; Aston Martin and Alonso looking dangerous

The 2023 Formula 1 campaign kicked off in earnest with the first race qualifying of the year on Saturday to set the grid for the opening round of the season at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain. With the teams masterfully using the short winter offseason & measly on track testing sessions to solidify their understanding of the ground effects-dependent aerodynamics that debuted last year, the result was a much more tightly compacted field that promises potential podiums from more than just the two or three powerhouses of the sport. But the more things change, the more they seemed to stay the same once the teams really showed their hands in the all-out speed contest that is F1’s three rounds of knockout qualifying. 2022’s reigning champion, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, put paid to any other drivers’ hopes of bettering him on this first quali Saturday when he kept improving his pace at an untouchable rate during Q3. In the end, the Flying Dutchman cleared his teammate Sergio Perez by a little under second-and-a-half to take pole for tomorrow’s Round 1 Bahrain Grand Prix and launch his quest for a third consecutive title. Verstappen was aided somewhat by Ferarri’s mildly curious decision to stop their ace Charles Leclerc from running one last flying lap in the final qualifying session and attempt to dethrone Verstappen in favor of having more fresh tires, and therefore more strategy options, for tomorrow’s race. Leclerc had to settle for P3 with stablemate Carlos Sainz backing him up on the second row in P4. Both Red Bull and Ferrari appeared to be hiding their true pace for much of the practice sessions prior and even in Q1 and Q2. But when it really counted, the two teams threw off their sandbags and mimicked last year’s performances as the best and second best teams on the grid, at least at this admittedly extremely early portion of what will be a grueling 23-round season.

While Red Bull and Ferrari were playing it a bit coy in the earlier stages of quali, it looked as though the Aston Martin of new hire Fernando Alonso might spring Saturday’s biggest surprise and claim his first pole since 2012 in Germany. With the wicks fully turned up, however, the veteran Spaniard two-time World Champ settled for a still solid P5, which was still better than both Mercedes were able to achieve. It was a marked improvement for the Aston Martin team and certainly seems to be the payoff for poaching Red Bull’s number two aerodynamicist, Dan Fallows. While Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll could do no better than a P8 time, the Canadian was hampered by hand and wrist injuries suffered in a pre-testing mountain bike accident so, if he can grit his way through tomorrow’s GP the signs are very promising for the team’s potential going forward. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Silver Arrows duo of George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, while both completely fit, had to settle for P6 and P7 respectively. Though the Mercedes braintrust appears to have mastered the extreme porpoising issues under the new aero formula that doomed their 2022 season to mediocrity, it’s clear that the cars are still not able to challenge for the front row consistently, as least not so yet. Mighty Mercedes and their ambitious and demanding driver duo will be keen to sharpen this year’s weapon in a hurry while simultaneously hoping that one again their cars are better race machines than one-lap specialists.

Rounding out the top ten on the grid, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon did very well to will his rather mediocre looking mount to P9 and Nico Hulkenberg made a solid return to F1 after several years as a super sub and reserve driver to qualify P10 for his new team, Haas. The veteran German, who looked genuinely rapid on the day, may have been hoping for even better positioning but he had his only competitive lap in Q3 deleted for exceeding track limits.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:31.295 1:30.503 1:29.708 15
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:31.479 1:30.746 1:29.846 15
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:31.094 1:30.282 1:30.000 17
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:30.993 1:30.515 1:30.154 18
5 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:31.158 1:30.645 1:30.336 15
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:31.057 1:30.507 1:30.340 15
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:31.543 1:30.513 1:30.384 15
8 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:31.184 1:31.127 1:30.836 18
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:31.508 1:30.914 1:30.984 15
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:31.204 1:30.809 DNF 17

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s season-opening race airs live on ESPN beginning at 10AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then when this much tighter field should lead to a ding dong race with multiple contenders for the podium and if anyone has anything for Verstappen for the top step!

 

 

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Leclerc victorious in season opener, Sainz P2 in promising start to 2022 campaign for Ferrari; disastrous late double DNF for Red Bull leads to podium for Mercedes’ Hamilton, P4 for Russell

In the first race of the 2022 Formula 1 season, team Ferrari proved that its early mastery of the new ground effect-dependent chassis and new engine specs was not a fluke. The famed Scuderia from Maranello, which suffered a prolonged period of mediocrity for much of the prior turbo-hybrid era, saw a spring resurgence as their blood red Prancing Horses finished one-two in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. Charles Leclerc, who clearly was the fastest man of the weekend, earned victory after starting from the pole, while his stablemate Carlos Sainz fought hard and took advantage of the terminal failures of both contending Red Bulls late in the race to come home a happy  P2. That marked the first one-two Ferrari finish in a GP since 2019 in Singapore when Sebastian Vettel led home Leclerc. While Leclerc was relatively dominant all day, he was effectively harassed by Verstappen’s Red Bull for the lead throughout, including a ding dong, see saw battle between the two after the first round of pit stops between Laps 16 and 20. Verstappen and his team made effective use of the undercut coming in a lap earlier than then Monegasque to gain track position on Leclerc, which led to several laps of Verstappen passing Leclerc going into Turn 1 and Leclerc snatching the lead back coming out of Turn 4, where the Ferrari’s excellence in the slow speed corners neutralized the Red Bull’s straight line pace advantage. After a period of holding stations and status quo for many laps after that while Verstappen bided his time, it looked like it would be game on again between the two contenders when a full Safety Car was deployed on Lap 46 of this 57-lap contest after Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri stopped on track and unceremoniously burst into flames. It proved to be a very bad omen for other Red Bull-engined cars.

With the field now bunched up again behind Leclerc after pretty much everyone dove to the pits for the cheap stop and a switch to the high performing Soft Pirelli tires to finish out the race, Leclerc’s advantage over Verstappen was reduced to less than a second. But by the time the Safety Car tucked in at the end of Lap 50, Verstappen had been on the radio complaining about a heavy feel to the steering, perhaps having something to do with the power steering hydraulics. Leclerc initiated the restart superbly and gapped Verstappen, although the Dutch reigning world champion still seemed able to stay on the lead Ferrari’s gearbox. But Verstappen’s radio messages to and from the pit wall kept getting more fraught and there was clearly trouble brewing in the car. Sure enough, on Lap 54 something in Verstappen’s engine let go and he was quickly overtaken by most of those behind him. Verstappen wound up limping his mount to the pits but the issue was terminal and he was forced to retire. Climbing out of the car in stunned disbelief as the race stormed to its conclusion without him was a sad way to begin the defense of his first championship.

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2022 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Leclerc snatches pole for season opener, Sainz P3 in promising start for Ferrari; Red Bull’s reigning champ Verstappen qualifies P2, Hamilton only P5 as Mercedes struggle

The real beginning of Formula 1’s latest new era yielded a multitude of surprises, as the teams put the completely redesigned cars on display for the first time in earnest during Saturday Qualifying for tomorrow’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. With a radical new set of rules changing the look and design of the cars, most notably in cutting down on the complexity of the wings and exterior aero elements for less downforce but with a renewed emphasis on ground effects to stick the chassis to the road surface in exchange, it was the first opportunity to see which teams came out of the box strong and which still had work yet to do. And the answer appears to be that Ferrari has made the biggest improvements under the new regulations and the famed team from Maranello could well be geared up for a mano a mano brawl with Red Bull and their reigning champion, Max Verstappen, for the big prizes at the end of the year. Obviously, one swallow does not make a spring, but Charles Leclerc was able to put his blood red Prancing Horse on pole under the lights at the Bahrain International Circuit, besting Verstappen’s vaunted Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull RB18 at the line by a relatively hefty .123-seconds. Confirming the potential power of the new Ferrari design, Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz was also in contain for the pole, though in the end he slotted in at P3 just barely of Verstappen’s pace. Meanwhile, the Dutch champ’s Ref Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, looked set to reprise his pivotal wingman role once again in 2022, as the Mexican veteran could manage no better than the fourth fastest lap in the face of the Prancing Horses’ rediscovered competitiveness.

The inverse of Ferrari’s resurgent good fortune was the poor debut performance of the normally mighty Mercedes new W13 chassis. With the new ground effects also come new aero headaches and Mercedes have suffered from severe oscillations, aka “porpoising”, throughput testing and in these first days of practice. While the team’s braintrust were able to dial out some of that, especially on their seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton’s mount, Hamilton could still do no better than a P5 start for tomorrow’s race. To say the least, that is an unfamiliar position for the Briton, who frankly dominated the just completed hybrid era until the ascendence of Verstappen and his controversial championship-clinching win to end the 2021 campaign in Abu Dhabi last December. Worse still for the eight-time consecutive Constructors’ Champions, their new number two, England’s young George Russell, suffered the ignominy of qualifying down in P9, about where he would normally end up in the pokey Williams last year. If that wasn’t disheartening enough, the previous Merc second banana, Valtteri Bottas, out-qualified Russell in P6 with his new team, the Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo. In fact, Ferrari power looked like this first weekend’s winner already, with not only Bottas keeping his Q3 streak alive at Alfa but also Kevin Magnussen marking his return to F1 with a brilliant effort to capture P7 on the grid for perpetual back marker Haas despite battling hydraulic issues. and it was a very promising day for the Scuderia on the power plant front. On the other side off the engine equation, all four Mercedes-powered McLarens and Aston Martins failed to make it into the final qualifying round. Savvy veteran Fernando Alonso willed his Alpine Renault into P8 with a fine final effort while the Red Bull (Honda)-powered AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly struggled with overall handling rand could do no better than P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:31.471 1:30.932 1:30.558 15
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:31.785 1:30.757 1:30.681 14
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:31.567 1:30.787 1:30.687 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:32.311 1:31.008 1:30.921 18
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:32.285 1:31.048 1:31.238 17
6 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:31.919 1:31.717 1:31.560 15
7 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:31.955 1:31.461 1:31.808 12
8 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:32.346 1:31.621 1:32.195 14
9 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:32.269 1:31.252 1:32.216 17
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:32.096 1:31.635 1:32.338 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN here in the States beginning at 11AM Eastern here in the States. Can Ferrari set the pace over the course of a full Grand Prix or will Verstappen’s superlative skills where down the Prancing Horses and deny them victory? And just how much pain will Mercedes take tomorrow as the team focuses on early season damage limitation? Look forward to seeing you then to find out how it all shakes out in the 2022 opener!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton holds off surging Verstappen for victory in tense late race duel between top contenders; Bottas a distant P3

With Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in the unfamiliar position of being the underdogs entering the first race weekend of the 2021 Formula 1 season and supposedly at a disadvantage to the much improved Red Bull and their superlative lead driver, Max Verstappen, the Bahrain Grand Prix proved once again that predictions don’t mean anything once the rubber meets the road and laps get turned in anger. Defending World Champion Hamilton showed that he was not ready to go gently into that good night, demonstrating once again why he has earned a remarkable seven F1 titles by holding off the onslaught of the quicker Verstappen on old tires as the laps ran down at the windblown and gritty Sakhir Circuit. With the flying Dutchman literally breathing down the Englishman’s neck and well within DRS range, Verstappen appeared to make the race winning pass on Lap 53 of this 56 lap contest. In his excitement, however, Verstappen chose a particular tricky section of the track to overtake around the outside of the Mercedes and all four of his wheels breached track limits at Turn 4, providing him with an unfair advantage. He was immediately told by the team to give the position back to Hamilton, which he did. The loss of momentum proved pivotal and Hamilton was able to hold off Verstappen in the few remaining laps to take what seemed almost a stolen victory, crossing the line a mere seven-tenths ahead of his crestfallen rival.

In hindsight, Verstappen will probably regret two thing that cost him an almost certain victory in Bahrain: not being more patient with a still-ample four laps remaining in choosing his moment to overtake Hamilton, who was clearly struggling on his older Hard Pirellis; and giving the lap back to Lewis almost immediately instead of waiting for his strategists, who certainly share some blame here for the hasty call, to figure out the most advantageous place on the track to let Hamilton by with the least amount of time lost in doing it. Verstappen also complained that he should have just taken the five-second penalty after the race, feeling that he could have pulled far enough away to still preserve victory, but this could have risked further sanctions by the stewards, not to mention there being no guarantees that he could actually have gapped Hamilton by that much. One thing is for certain — if Sunday’s race was any indication, this will be the first season since the start of the turbo-hybrid era where a team not named Mercedes has a real chance to win every weekend. Hamilton has always wanted a true inter-team rivalry to prove himself even more than he already has against his fellow Mercedes drivers over the years. And in this year’s much improved RB 16B and the superb 23-year-old Verstappen at the top of his game he looks to finally have it.

Photos from Formula1.com

Hamilton’s Silver Arrows wingman Valtteri Bottas struggled with rear grip on his opening stint, as he had all weekend, but was looking better once he switched off the Mediums onto Hards. Then all his good work closing the gap to the top two was undone by a painfully slow second pit stop when his front right tire would not come unstuck. The unlucky Finn finished some 37 seconds back of P2 Verstappen, though he did set the fastest lap of the race for an extra point after a late stop for fresh rubber. Lando Norris drove an outstanding race for McLaren to finish a strong P4 and the car looks to have genuine pace again this year, with new teammate Daniel Ricciardo also scoring well in P7. Verstappen’s new Red Bull stablemate Sergio Perez had a remarkable recovery drive after losing power on the formation lap and being forced to start from the pits. The canny Mexican veteran somehow managed to salvage an impressive P5 finish, making a three-stop strategy pay off with a passel of late race passes to maximize his and the team’s best available points.

Ferrari showed genuine improvement in race trim over last year’s disastrous lack of pace, with Charles Leclerc able to cross the line in sixth and new teammate Carlos Sainz finishing where he started in P8. Rookie Yuki Tsunoda scored on debut for AlphaTauri with an impressive P9 finish, salvaging a couple of points for the team on a day where their lead driver, Pierre Gasly, who looked like a podium contender going in, lost his front wing early in the race on Lap 4 when he collided with the rear of Ricciardo and was unable recover. The unlucky Frenchman finished way back in P17 and will have to wait to really get his promising season going until Round 2 at Imola in two weeks time. Lance Stroll took the last point in P10 for newly minted Aston Martin but his new partner Sebastian Vettel had a bit of a horror show. The four-time World Champion, who has frankly struggled with unforced errors over the past several seasons, made another big mistake when he was judged responsible for ramming into the back of the Alpine of Esteban Ocon on Lap 45 and handed a 10-second time penalty as a result. Additionally, it made a grand total of five penalty points on Vettel’s super license over the course of the debut race weekend after he was also dinged for failing to respect Yellow Flags in qualifying on Saturday. All in all, not the start the German vet was looking for in trying and reestablish himself as a top performer in the series and impress his new team with his supposed skill and savvy.

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 56 1:32:03.897 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 56 +0.745s 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 56 +37.383s 16
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 56 +46.466s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 56 +52.047s 10
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 56 +59.090s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 56 +66.004s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 56 +67.100s 4
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 56 +85.692s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 56 +86.713s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in three weeks when Formula 1 returns to Imola in Italy for the second year in a row for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Let’s hope the action between Hamilton and Vertstappen stays just as close in Tuscany as it was today in Bahrain. Look forward to seeing you then!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

GAME ON: Red Bull’s pace for real as Verstappen beats Hamilton for premier pole of 2021 at Sakhir;  Bottas P3 ahead of Leclerc’s improved Ferrari

The 2021 Formula 1 season is upon us after a long, cold winter and events on track wasted no time heating up during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s opening round Bahrain Grand Prix. It was time to find out if Mercedes had been hiding their pace in relation to the seemingly ascendent Honda-powered RB16 B Red Bull chassis. It took three rounds of quali to answer that compelling question but in the end Red Bull superstar Max Verstappen laid down the gauntlet by putting together a seamlessly fast final lap, wresting pole away from seven-time champ and Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton by a fairly cushy six-tenths of a second. Coming off his season-ending victory last year in Abu Dhabi and with a winter’s worth of upgrades to the Red Bull, Verstappen looks like he finally has the finely honed weapon to compete with Hamilton and the Silver Arrows for at least the Drivers’ Championship if not the Constructors’. The Dutchman will be keen to continue his momentum and hunt down a victory in tomorrow’s debut contest of 2021 to show that the German behemoth will not have things their own way this year after absolutely dominating the modern hybrid era.

It was not all good vibes for team Red Bull, however, as they saw Mercedes number two Valtteri Bottas recover from some discomfort with his new W12 mount to set a solid final time good enough for P3, while their new hire Sergio Perez succumbed to the curse of being Verstappen’s stablemate and got bounced in Q2. The veteran Mexican, who was brought in to the team after a superlative season last year to add consistency and stability to the troublesome number two Red Bull pilot role, will have to start a disappointing P11 tomorrow, with a lot of ground to be made up if he is going to help his teammate hold off the dual Silver Arrows onslaught. To be fair to Perez, the team may have botched his strategy by sending him out on the Medium Pirellis rather than the faster Softs when it was crunch time in P2.

Ferrari showed that they too made significant improvements in the offseason, especially in the power department, if not quite lifting them to the level of the top two teams. Charles Leclerc drove the wheels of his SF21 to set the fourth fastest time, only about a tenth behind Bottas. New Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz, who made the jump to Maranello from McLaren, was quite a bit off that pace after looking very close to Leclerc up until that point and could only manage a P8 starting position. Pierre Gasly was the lone AlphaTauri to make it into the top ten but again looked very sharp after his breakout year in 2020. The young Frenchman appears to be maturing and improving every season and he tucked in right behind Leclerc with a solid P5 time. Daniel Ricciardo outpaced his teammate Lando Norris in his debut for McLaren, P6 to P7, while two-time champion Fernando Alonso impressed on his return to F1 after a hiatus dating to 2018 by setting a very respectable P9 time for newly badged Alpine (formerly Renault). And Lance Stroll got through to Q3 and will start P10 for the renamed Aston Martin team (formerly Racing Point and still powered by Mercedes engines), while his new teammate, former Ferrari man Sebastian Vettel, saw his bad luck from 2020 carry over when he had to slow for yellow flags at critical moment in Q1 and could not make it out of that session. The German four-time champion will start from a lowly P18 and will have to control his emotions and make steady progress if he is to avoid a repeat of the last few years’ many mental errors. At the very least, the British Racing Green-clad livery is beautiful to look at even if team Aston Martin will have a hard time replicating last season’s success as a “mini Mercedes” under the new restrictive downforce rules.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:30.499 1:30.318 1:28.997 15
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:30.617 1:30.085 1:29.385 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:31.200 1:30.186 1:29.586 17
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:30.691 1:30.010 1:29.678 15
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:30.848 1:30.513 1:29.809 15
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.795 1:30.222 1:29.927 18
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.902 1:30.099 1:29.974 18
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:31.653 1:30.009 1:30.215 17
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:30.863 1:30.595 1:30.249 15
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:31.261 1:30.624 1:30.601 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 10:55 AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Time to find out if Verstappen has what it takes in race trim to bring the fight to mighty Mercedes. Hope to see you then!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Sakhir — Results & aftermath

Perez earns first career win in wild Sakhir GP; Ocon P2, Stroll P3 after Mercedes throw away near-certain Russell debut victory with sloppy pit stop

With Mercedes ace and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton sidelined with COVID the Sakhir Grand Prix always had the potential to be a wide open affair. But few could have imagined how crazy Sunday’s race would actually turn out to be. The normally supreme Mercedes factory team blew what should have been another easy one-two Silver Arrows finish when a risky double-stack pit stop to try to take advantage of a Safety Car on Lap 63 backfired spectacularly, opening the door to the surviving “best of the rest” to take advantage. The Silver Arrows team confused the drivers’ tires, sending out Hamilton’s stand-in and race leader, George Russell on a set of Medium Pirellis allotted to regular driver Valtteri Bottas and forcing the team to also remount the same set of old Hard tires back onto then-P2 Bottas’s car in desperation. The blunder not only left the luckless Bottas stationary in the pits for an excruciating 24 seconds while the team scrambled to make sense of the situation but also necessitated ordering Russell, who normally drives for the backmarker Williams team but was surely dreaming of his maiden F1 victory in the world’s fastest race car, back in for the correct set of his matching tires, as per the regulations. When the insanity was finally sorted it found Racing Point’s Sergio Perez leading the race, with Renault’s Esteban Ocon now in P2, the second Racing point of Lance Stroll in third and the nonplussed Mercedes duo of Bottas and Russell demoted to P4 and P5 respectively. But with the Safety Car withdrawing at the end of Lap 68 and 19 laps remaining the ultra-fast Mercedes duo still had a chance to claw their way back to the front.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

As he had been all race prior, It quickly became apparent that Russell was again the faster man, especially with fresh Mediums giving him a major advantage over Bottas’ older Hard tires. The young Englishman quickly dispatched his teammate to ascend to P4 and then on Lap 72 passed Stroll for P3 and at least a consolation podium position if not the win of his dreams. Any points would be Russell’s first in F1 but he was clearly still hunting for victory, making quick work of Ocon for P2 on lap 73 and taking chunks of time out of Perez’s lead. But on Lap 78 Russell’s promising charge was again thwarted by a slow rear left puncture that forced yet another trip to the pits for new rubber. It was heartbreak for Russell and the team, who rejoined down in fifteenth and could only make it back up to P9 before the laps ran out, earning him his first-ever championship points but also wondering forlornly what might have been.

For the veteran Perez, however, it was sweet vindication when he took the checkered flag as the winner, the Mexican’s fist victory in 190 F1 career races. With Checo inexplicably slated to lose his Racing Point seat for next season he made the best possible advertisement for his services for any potential suitors out there. He not only ended up winning thanks to Mercedes’ own goals but that he did was all the more remarkable because he had to recover from an opening lap collision with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc that pushed him to the rear after he had to immediately pit for a front wing change. Perez never gave up, though, but kept on pushing and put himself in position to capitalize when Mercedes needlessly overcomplicated their strategy and then failed to execute. If not for last week’s bitter disappointment when he suffered engine failure while in position to finish P3, Perez would be looking at three consecutive podiums. If he doesn’t get a drive for next year it won’t be because of performance that’s for sure, as he’s had a tremendous second half and may well have cemented fourth place in the Drivers’ standings with today’s remarkable win. In the even bigger picture, Perez became only the second Mexican national to win a Formula 1 GP and the first since the late, legendary Pedro Rodriguez took victory at Belgium way back in 1970.

For Renault’s Ocon it was nearly as special a result when he came home P2, his first ever podium and by far his best result in an on again, off again career. And for Perez’s Racing point teammate Lance Stroll it was a second P3 podium in a somewhat inconsistent and COVID-interrupted season. The duo’s win and third place made for a banner points haul for Racing Point after they were shutout last week, solidifying their third place in the massively valuable Constructors’ standings where positions equal literally millions of dollars. With Daniel Ricciardo finishing P5 it was also a nice day for team Renault, who sit solidly at fifth in the Constructors’ with an outside chance of overtaking McLaren in the points in the final race next week at Abu Dhabi. Also contributing to the wide open nature of this contest, the opening lap kerfuffle between Perez and an over-ambitious Leclerc knocked out Leclerc’s Ferrari and also saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen crash out while he was taking evasive action and skidded through the gravel, spearing nose-first into a crash barrier. Just like that two of the potential high points contenders were instantly erased and many midfield runners had opportunities to capitalize. The McLaren of Carlos Sainz couldn’t touch the eventual top three but still scored an opportunistic P4 result. Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon did well enough to haul himself up to a P6 finish and will be hoping to quiet the rumors of Perez replacing him at Red Bull. The AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat came home ahead of the luckless Bottas in P7 while the two Mercedes were doomed to a P8/P9, Bottas leading the crestfallen Russell. The second McLaren of Lando Norris took the last point in P10.

Final note: While a relatively healthy Romain Grosjean was a welcome sight in the Bahrain paddock after last week’s horror crash his injuries will prevent the Frenchman from competing in the final race next week. Pietro Fittipaldi, who finished last of the active runners after facing a very steep learning curve, will likely drive for Haas again in Grosjean’s place at Yas Marina for the season finale.

Top 10 finishers of the Sakhir GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 87 1:31:15.114 25
2 31 Esteban Ocon RENAULT 87 +10.518s 18
3 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 87 +11.869s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 87 +12.580s 12
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 87 +13.330s 10
6 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 87 +13.842s 8
7 26 Daniil Kvyat ALPHATAURI HONDA 87 +14.534s 6
8 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 87 +15.389s 4
9 63 George Russell MERCEDES 87 +18.556s 3
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 87 +19.541s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next and last race of the 2020 season is in but a week’s time — a short trip for the teams to neighboring Abu Dhabi and the beautifully futuristic Yas Marina circuit. With Hamilton’s return uncertain, young George Russell may well have a chance for a second bite of the cherry to salve today’s disappointment. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Sakhir — Qualifying results

Hamilton out with COVID but Bottas takes pole at Sakhir, Russell P2 in Mercedes debut for another Silver Arrows front row lockout; Verstappen P3 for Red Bull

A week after Romain Grosjean survived a horrifying and fiery crash, Formula 1 remained in Bahrain for the Sakhir Grand Prix and the disturbing news kept right on coming. While Grosjean was a welcome sight in the paddock walking only with a light limp and bandages on his burned hands, Lewis Hamilton was absent and in self-quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 during the week. That unfortunate event saw Williams’ regular driver George Russell drafted into the factory Mercedes factory team to pinch hit for Hamilton alongside Silver Arrows regular, Valtteri Bottas. With a rejiggered Bahrain International Circuit utilizing the outer track for the first time to differentiate the Sakhir GP nearly devoid of the usual serpentine turns and featuring one of the fastest laps in F1 history at well under a minute to cover its rectangular and short 2.2 miles, Saturday qualifying was fast, furious and highly unpredictable. But in the end it wound up the usual Mercedes front row lockout anyway, with Bottas making hay in Hamilton’s absence to take pole and Russell showing some serious chops on debut in the top car to take P2 despite it being essentially a brand new experience for him.

While Red Bull’s Max Verstappen looked very fast throughout and seemed primed to steal pole from the Mercs midway through Q3, Bottas bettered the Dutchman’s best lap to snatch it back, barely having time to look back when Russell crossed the line a minuscule .026 seconds behind him. Russell clearly has the pace to win tomorrow’s Grand Prix but it remains to be seen if the youngster can master the clutch-dependent start in unfamiliar equipment that is so essential for a lightning getaway when the lights go out. Still, the 22-year-old has got to be thrilled to have given Bottas such a run for his pole money on debut and his performance will no doubt raise his profile in the F1 rankings going forward.

Verstappen had to settle for P3 on the grid, as he did last weekend here, but this will ostensibly put him on the cleaner side of the track again, so look for Max to pounce in case one or both of the Mercs come to grief on the opening lap. However, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Alexander Albon was back to his underwhelming qualifying ways after a solid P4 effort last week. On this day, Albon was inexplicably bounced in Q2 with only the twelfth fastest lap. Similarly, Charles Leclerc over-performed in his Ferrari to qualify a very solid P4, while Sebastian Vettel continued to limp to the finish of his awful 2020 campaign with a subpar P13 effort in the penultimate quali of his Ferrari career. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez showed his quality once again to qualify P5 a week after being denied a sure podium by late race engine failure. Teammate Lance Stroll, who also DNF’d last week after being flipped upside down, could do no better than P10. Daniil Kvyat out-qualified his AlphaTauri teammate Charles Gasly P6 to P9, while Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz were the lone representatives of their teams to make it into Q3, with Ricciardo taking P7 and Sainz setting the eighth fastest time.

With Russell substituting for Hamilton at Mercedes this weekend, 25-year-old Formula 2 driver Jack Aitken was brought in to take Russell’s seat at Williams for at least this race. And with Grosjean understandably needing more to time to recover from his injuries young Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of two-time champ Emerson, will fill that seat at Haas.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Sakhir GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 53.904 53.803 53.377 24
2 63 George Russell MERCEDES 54.160 53.819 53.403 25
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 54.037 53.647 53.433 17
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 54.249 53.825 53.613 21
5 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 54.236 53.787 53.790 17
6 26 Daniil Kvyat ALPHATAURI HONDA 54.346 53.856 53.906 26
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 54.388 53.871 53.957 15
8 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 54.450 53.818 54.010 20
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 54.207 53.941 54.154 28
10 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 54.595 53.840 54.200 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race, the second-to-last pf the year, airs live on ESPN beginning at 12PM Eastern here in the States. With Hamilton away and a whopping 87 laps to play, look for an unpredictable race where literally anyone of the top 10 starters could potentially win. Hope to see you then to find to how it all shakes out!