Relief in Bahrain at Ferrari and Mercedes: ‘Gate to Verstappen isn’t too bad’ | formula 1

Mar 01, 2024 at 7:46 PM Update: 19 minutes ago

Charles Leclerc and George Russell showed some relief on Friday in Bahrain. They were beaten by Max Verstappen in the first qualifying of 2024, but the Dutchman did not do so with the force majeure that was feared.

“It feels like the gaps are a bit smaller than last year,” Verstappen himself agreed. The reigning world champion looked back on a good qualifying, especially because things did not go so smoothly at Red Bull Racing this weekend.

“We struggled to find the balance, but we continued to work to find improvements. That is what this round achieved.”

That lap ended up being 1.29.179. Leclerc was two tenths slower in his Ferrari. “That’s better than we expected,” he admitted. The Monegasque was nevertheless dissatisfied. “In Q3 the rhythm just wasn’t there. I really think we could have been closer. But still, it’s manageable.”

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Verstappen takes pole position in Bahrain for the first F1 race of the year

RB20 has been feared since its launch

Ever since Red Bull first pulled the curtain on the RB20, expectations have been high. During the test days, Verstappen’s new car proved to be fast enough to fear another dominant season for the three-time world champion. That can still happen, but the fear that Verstappen has a colossal lead was somewhat dispelled on Friday in Bahrain.

“I had a better feeling in the first weekend last year,” the Limburger said plainly. “We’ll just have to see how it turns out. I expect to have a good car in the race”

‘0.5 seconds per lap faster? That’s way too much

That is the next weapon in the Red Bull arsenal: the impressive race pace that Verstappen can put on the asphalt. The Dutchman is already a recognized tire whisperer and his car does not demand the maximum from the rubber to stay ahead of the rest.

“We even expect Max to be 0.5 seconds faster per lap in the race,” said Russell. Verstappen responded immediately. “Half a second? That’s way too much,” he laughed. Russell responded wittily to Mercedes’ broad prediction: “Don’t over-promise and then over-perform.”

Because the damage was also very bad for Mercedes. Although Lewis Hamilton did not get further than the ninth fastest time, Russell was at the front. On Thursday, the second free practice showed that Mercedes is finally on the right track.

“We still didn’t expect this after the test days,” Russell was honest. “But we have really done a lot of work in recent days. Yesterday we were already surprised by our own speed.”

George Russell and Charles Leclerc chat. Photo: Getty

‘So much happier with this car’

Mercedes struggled with the car for two years, but adjustments to bring the design more in line with prevailing trends seem to be paying off at least in Bahrain.

“We are so much happier with this car, it is really a different machine than the previous two. I expected that we could fight with McLaren, Ferrari and Aston Martin, but the gap to Max is also smaller than expected. We expect also a lot of our race pace.”

The first qualifying result of 2024 gave hope for a great fight behind Verstappen and perhaps also with Verstappen. “I haven’t seen Formula 1 like this for a long time,” said Russell. “For a long time we only had the dream of fighting for pole and victory, but now there is real hope.”

The Bahrain Grand Prix starts on Saturday at 4 p.m.

2024-03-01 18:46:00
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