BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN – MARCH 02: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 leads Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari SF-24 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on March 02, 2024 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202403020623 // Usage for editorial use only //
Max Verstappen won the first Grand Prix of the season, just like last year by dominating in Bahrain. If in 2023 the Dutchman had finished the race 38 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, with an advantage of more than 7 tenths per lap, on Saturday the gap was reduced to 25 seconds by Carlos Sainz, who lapped just over 4 tenths from three times world champion. There are many variables both on the Red Bull side, with an important management of the race, but also on the part of the rivals: in the first stint Sainz had to fight with other cars and was unable to show his true pace, Leclerc suffered the largely discussed brake problem which cost a probable second position, and Mercedes lost time due to an overheating problem in the Brixworth Power Unit. The data analysis of the Bahrain GP left many question marks on the all-round performance of the drivers and cars for which we will have to wait until Jeddah and the subsequent events, but it provided answers to other doubts.
Data analysis, Bahrain GP: Haas improves by almost three seconds, Red Bull has six tenths of a second on its rivals
Compared to twelve months ago, the use of the ‘new’ Pirelli tires introduced at Silverstone contributed to improving the performance of the cars by around four tenths per lap. Keeping this fact in mind, it is curious that among the teams that have improved the most compared to the first race of 2023 there is Haas, with a step forward of almost three seconds showing the good work done by Ayao Komatsu’s team in the pre-season tests, and then Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull. The improvement of the men from Milton Keynes allowed them to maintain their dominance, at least during the first weekend of the season, with an image very similar to the last year and a half; if we want to find a difference with last year, the RB20 adapts better to the characteristics of the Bahraini track given the extreme competitiveness at low speed. In Jeddah, where Ferrari and McLaren should make progress if what they showed this weekend is true, there will be the chance to see the cars from another perspective.
Speaking of gaps in terms of pace, we can divide the race into two parts: in the first two stints Max Verstappen pushed and the degradation, although minimal, proves it, while in the last twenty laps the Dutch phenomenon allowed himself to only slightly extend his lead. teammate and Carlos Sainz after setting the fastest lap. In the first two stints Max’s gap is half a second on his teammate, six tenths on Sainz’s Ferrari, nine tenths on Russell and Mercedes, and even a clear second on Lando Norris’s McLaren: numbers that frighten his opponents, and confirm a trend in line with the start of 2023 and a Red Bull, with Verstappen, very fit; unlike 2023, however, the front runners have taken a path that has provided them with a more stable basic platform and which will allow greater ease in developing their single-seaters over the course of the season. It is surprising that Ferrari’s main loss is in the central sector, where on Friday Leclerc managed to do two tenths better than the number 1 RB20; on the other hand, Mercedes loses a lot in the most technical section of the track, while McLaren equals Ferrari in the second section also thanks to a more loaded set-up, but loses in the first and third due to excessive drag.
Only Sauber gained over Red Bull between Qualifying and the Race, with a C44 struggling greatly on low fuel, which puts into perspective just how dominant the RB20 is on a full tank. Over the course of all 57 laps, with management in the last stint, the gaps decrease: Perez +0.385s, Sainz +0.449s, Hamilton +0.759s, Norris +0.813s, then a few tenths separate the Aston Martin from the trio of pursuers. As in the tests, the AMR24 suffered with a lot of fuel, showing itself to be one of the cars that loses the most from Race Qualifying compared to Red Bull, a reverse trend compared to the beginning of last year when Alonso on Sundays often showed himself to be closer to Verstappen compared to Saturday. The biggest surprise is, as in Qualifying, Nico Hulkenberg: with a pace a few thousandths slower than Alonso’s, and the awareness that without the accident on the first lap in turn one the German would have fought for the points zone for the happiness of the new Haas Team Principal. “We don’t have the best degradation, but at least in midfield we can fight for points.” In order Racing Bulls, Sauber and Williams find themselves in a gap of two tenths, around seven tenths from Aston Martin, and finally Alpine closes the field with a delay of two seconds from Red Bull, despite an improvement of eight tenths compared to 2023 according to what was gathered from the data analysis of the Bahrain GP.
Data Analysis, Bahrain GP: Ferrari the best in pit stops, in Jeddah we will have other answers
After some seasons of clear improvement starting from a 2022 with good highs but several lows, Ferrari only surrendered to Red Bull in terms of average pit stops last year, showing itself to be very consistent and making few mistakes, and in the pits the new season began in best way after years of often unjustified criticism and mockery: the two fastest pit stops belong to the men from Maranello, with an average of 2.37s in the four stops. The closest is Red Bull, at 2.57s on average, followed by Racing Bulls and then the void; Stake Sauber started well with Zhou, but two malfunctions in Bottas’ stops caused the Finn to lose time. Haas is also progressing from this point of view, while the failures are Alpine with three pit stops over three seconds.
The Bahrain Grand Prix gave its first results on a rather particular track, made up of several long straights and low-speed corners, areas in which the Red Bull RB20; the gap of 4/6 tenths compared to the first pursuers will certainly not be eliminated within a week, and with high probability not even in a few months, but Jeddah could deliver different results on a more high-speed track where McLaren and Ferrari could express themselves better , in particular taking advantage of a clean weekend for Leclerc’s SF24, which in Bahrain had the potential to close 3 tenths a lap behind Verstappen. In any case, from Friday a more complete picture of the performance of the new cars will be available, despite the knowledge that beating Verstappen and Red Bull on the track will be an almost impossible challenge.
Author: Andrea Vergani
188
