Bahrain GP: What did we learn?
After a tense duel in the desert under the lights of Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit, we have a clearer picture of how the season could play out. But what did we actually learn from the Bahrain Grand Prix?
A close fight at the top
Sebastian Vettel won his second race of the season in a strategic duel with Mercedes, timing his first pit stop perfectly before a virtual safety car. Lewis Hamilton struggled to get to the end on a one stop and had to overcome a five second time penalty. Ferrari seem able to look after their tyres better than Mercedes, especially on the super soft compound. Mercedes look quicker on the soft tyres, but expect Vettel to be strong when ultra and super soft tyres are allocated at certain tracks. Once again, strategy cost Mercedes, who need to make sharper decisions against the in-form Ferrari’s. Although Mercedes have an advantage over a single lap in qualifying, Ferrari’s race pace is as good as, if not better, than that of the Silver Arrows.
A boost for Bottas
Against Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas faces his strongest team-mate yet. Hamilton has had the measure of Bottas so far, but in Bahrain, the Finn put a perfect lap together in qualifying to snatch his maiden pole position away from Hamilton. Although Bottas struggled with a tyre pressure issue during the race and could only finish 3rd, beating Hamilton in qualifying, where the Brit is usually the strongest driver over a single flying lap, should give Bottas a boost heading forward.
A lonely third place
Although not under threat from the midfield, Red Bull are still almost a second behind Mercedes in full qualifying trim, and so occupy a lonely place as the third best team on the grid. Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo have the speed to beat Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen at most tracks, but still have a huge gap to close down to Hamilton and Vettel. Red Bull traditionally develop well and took a conservative approach with the design philosophy of the RB13, so know that they should be able to extract more from their aero package as the season progresses. Renault also have more power to come from their power unit, so upgrades there will help close the gap as well.
Best of the rest
In Bahrain the Williams of Felipe Massa was the best of the rest as the class of the midfield. However, Force India scored another double points finish, and are currently fourth in the Constructors race, just a single point ahead of Williams. Toro Rosso are four points adrift of Williams after failing to score any points in Bahrain, while Haas are seventh after a second consecutive points haul. Renault are finally on the board with two points after being unlucky not to score in the opening rounds. Force India looks like the most consistent midfield challenger, but Williams have the most pure pace. Haas could be consistent if they fixed their reliability issues, while Toro Rosso look pretty consistent as well. Renault have the potential to be quick after Nico Hulkenberg was best of the midfield in qualifying, with both cars in the top ten, but they faded during the race.
More horror for McLaren-Honda
Fernando Alonso provided some colourful radio messages as his McLaren-Honda struggled for straight-line speed at the Sakhir circuit (“I’ve never raced with less power!”). Alonso’s decision to skip the Monaco Grand Prix in May and race in the Indy 500 may bely tensions underneath as McLaren had another awful outing in Bahrain. Stoffel Vandoorne never even started the race due to a technical issue. And after enjoying a great wheel-to-wheel battle with Renault, Toro Rosso and Sauber, Alonso’s car broke down just two laps from the end of the race. It will be interesting to see where the seemingly doomed partnership heads next.
