2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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Restomaniac
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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Chuckjr wrote:
20 Mar 2022, 10:54
One swallow doesn’t make a summer anymore than one race defines an F1 field or one quali session determines a car’s potential. This first race won’t tell us who’s overall fastest, but will give shape and context to who is at the sharp end and who has their work cut out for themselves. It’s all very exciting. Nice to have that back in the sport.

1 - Max
2 - Charles
3 - Fred

I think there will be more car carnage than usual due to the tall wheels and shrouds, unfamiliarity of the drivers with the unique way these cars behave, and simply closer competition at the top. I can easily see some carnage at the sharp end tomorrow. It’s why I’m thinking Fred just may find his way to the podium. Yellow flags will keep the field stacked and out-of-sync pit stops will also help shuffle the field. I think one of the Mercs and one of the Ferrari’s take each other out.

Holy smokes the doom and gloom in the Macca team thread is something to behold! They are setting fire to the team already! My god did I just read someone say McLaren customer cars will go bankrupt, and the team will be sold?!? After one quali session!!? 😂🤣🤦‍♂️ Get a hold of yourselves people. Seriously. It’s simple. Macca needs to call Ron Dennis stat, apologize, and hand him the keys. You’ll be winning within 3 years with your own Porsche engine or something equivalent at the next engine regs change. You know this. I know this. 😉

The irony of Bottas out-qualifying Russell is palpable. Shame as I think Russell may have had it in him to out quali the golden calf. But hey, maybe next week.

Crossing my fingers Fred has good race pace. The Alpine design seems fundamentally good. Is the Renault engine reliable is another question entirely.

The hopium of unlocking the supposed zero pod potential is at addiction levels in the Merc punter’s think tank (team thread). Oddly, it’s the polar opposite of some Macca fans who are ready to walk away from F1 forever as “they can’t take it anymore”. Lol. Anyway, the supposed magical potential of the zero pods is yet to be observed, but I have to be honest and say I’m not convinced there’s magical potential in them. Vanja with his post help me understand the Merc better, and I’m not convinced there’s all kinds of speed just waiting to be unleashed. The ominous words from Günter and also Ferrari stating they looked at zero pods and said no thanks convinces me the wider pod is the way to go for this Formulae. Newey also chose wider pods, so there’s that.

Of course, Ferrari and Red Bull have updates coming by the truckload, and they will only get faster from here and already have balanced their car basic. Merc has not, is on the back foot, still struggling somewhat with porpoising, still struggling to find time, still struggling to understand their car, and may have a pos engine to boot...at least the bottom half of the field agrees with the engine part.

Thank you F1 tech and all moderators.

Good luck to all drivers this year. Hoping for a safe and fair season with lots of different winners and tight on track battles.

PS, I guess Charles and Max have some history still to resolve... :wtf:

https://youtu.be/L42H4vkbHYc
Thats exactly what I was talking about. Hamilton as a wise old head was conservative at times. LeClerc however when you add in the history? No chance. If they have cars on the same level they will be ‘at it’ far more than Hamilton Vs Verstappen was.

I’ll give you couple of examples.
Monza (the year escapes me) when LeClerc pushed Hamilton onto the grass during an attempted overtake. Somewhat naughty that and it’s about his mindset.
Brazil last year with the now infamous push off track by Verstappen on Hamilton. That was also somewhat naughty and it’s again about mindset.
Now let’s replace Verstappen with Hamilton in Monza and LeClerc with Hamilton in Brazil. Neither one is that passive and it’s gunna create chaos IMHO. The stewards had better be on top of this early.

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chrisc90
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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Id still put Max as a overall better racer than Leclerc is at the minute. Personally.
Mess with the Bull - you get the horns.

Restomaniac
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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chrisc90 wrote:
20 Mar 2022, 12:56
Id still put Max as a overall better racer than Leclerc is at the minute. Personally.
Maybe so and I’ve always said what a talent Verstappen is but I still think if he treats LeClerc the same as Hamilton last year it will be chaos.

morefirejules08
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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chrisc90 wrote:
20 Mar 2022, 12:56
Id still put Max as a overall better racer than Leclerc is at the minute. Personally.
Personally I think Max’s wheel to wheel racing leaves a lot to be desired.

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AeroDynamic
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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Yes Leclerc and Verstappen can be more fireworks than we saw between Hamilton and Verstappen.

Leclerc will try more opportunistic moves and hasn't the experience of almost losing a championship due to adopting an uncompromising, boneheaded mentality to racing like his rival at the moment. I also think Leclerc has a much more balanced mindset about racing, so I think he will learn quickly and see the big picture better than Max.

Max on the other hand, despite having inherited the title by mistake, I still think he has learned more than he cares to express to the media about his approach to racing. for 50+ laps he thought he lost the title and Silverstone will always be there, regardless of who he thinks was more to blame, he knows he could do something different if he wants 18 points instead of 0. (never leave it to your rivals to take 'care' in driving around you in the interest of your points haul, common sense) so, I think we will see a little more balanced approach from Max than last year.

I don't think Max has anything to worry about Ferrari anyway, This title is his unless Mercedes come correct with their package sooner than later.

Ferrari has started off competitive... but they still have weak-as-f-ck strategists, inconsistent performance in competitive development race, and uncompetitive race pace to RB (Maybe Max learned from the best in AD about positioning car balance to RacePace!)

RB has the best car, the best engine? the best strategists, the best aerodynamic leadership and one of the best drivers. The Pace in race and Qualifying is proven and the title is almost sowed at this point.

If Ferrari prove they've grown and improved a lot since previous years, and they blow through assumptions we are making that turn out to be false, then that would be great to see them back in F1. Its too long since they won something.

ENGINE TUNER
ENGINE TUNER
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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f1jcw wrote:
19 Mar 2022, 16:46
chrisc90 wrote:
19 Mar 2022, 16:40
Interesting around 4750m they all in same gear, but the merc is running much more RPMs, but the speed is down.
Is that gearing?
Could be rpm spikes due to excessive porpoising

ENGINE TUNER
ENGINE TUNER
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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PlatinumZealot wrote:
19 Mar 2022, 16:47
Is the Honda engine the most powerful now? Ferrari has definitely made a step but in every replay I'm seeing the RedBull with higher top speeds than the others.
Top speed is more indicative of drag level than peak hp

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chrisc90
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Joined: 23 Feb 2022, 21:22

Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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SO what do people think the winning margin will be today?

I'm going to be bold and say +15s
Mess with the Bull - you get the horns.

Dee
Dee
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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AeroDynamic wrote:
20 Mar 2022, 13:09
Yes Leclerc and Verstappen can be more fireworks than we saw between Hamilton and Verstappen.

Leclerc will try more opportunistic moves and hasn't the experience of almost losing a championship due to adopting an uncompromising, boneheaded mentality to racing like his rival at the moment. I also think Leclerc has a much more balanced mindset about racing, so I think he will learn quickly and see the big picture better than Max.

Max on the other hand, despite having inherited the title by mistake, I still think he has learned more than he cares to express to the media about his approach to racing. for 50+ laps he thought he lost the title and Silverstone will always be there, regardless of who he thinks was more to blame, he knows he could do something different if he wants 18 points instead of 0. (never leave it to your rivals to take 'care' in driving around you in the interest of your points haul, common sense) so, I think we will see a little more balanced approach from Max than last year.

I don't think Max has anything to worry about Ferrari anyway, This title is his unless Mercedes come correct with their package sooner than later.

Ferrari has started off competitive... but they still have weak-as-f-ck strategists, inconsistent performance in competitive development race, and uncompetitive race pace to RB (Maybe Max learned from the best in AD about positioning car balance to RacePace!)

RB has the best car, the best engine? the best strategists, the best aerodynamic leadership and one of the best drivers. The Pace in race and Qualifying is proven and the title is almost sowed at this point.

If Ferrari prove they've grown and improved a lot since previous years, and they blow through assumptions we are making that turn out to be false, then that would be great to see them back in F1. Its too long since they won something.
Excuse you but weren't you just on the RB thread saying how they weren't the best at corners anymore and it's not about talent but the car?

And here you are saying that Max has it all sewn up, no competition coming from Ferrari!?

You might need to start singing from the same hymn sheet instead of slaming RB on their thread and Ferrari on the race thread.

Schippke
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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Despite Ferrari being on pole (and a Tifosi too!), I'd be putting money down on Max for the win today. If the practice sessions and race pace was anything to go by, Red Bull looked stronger... and with a bit of extra speed down the straights this weekend it would seem, might make it just that bit easier to overtake compared to if Charles was to try take Max in similar fashion. Also, if Perez can go longer and look after the tyres in his usual way, he may very well come back and factor more towards the end of the race too...

In saying, both Ferrari's start on the clean side of the track so that might also be of benefit to them in getting a better start too... and if its a Ferrari 1,2 come the first sector that gives them a lot of control in the race... at least initially before Red Bull start rolling the dice on strategy...

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chrisc90
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Joined: 23 Feb 2022, 21:22

Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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Absolute scenes in the F2 race. 2 cars lost N/S/F wheels in the pitlane. One car blocking the fast lane!
Mess with the Bull - you get the horns.

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Artur Craft
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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dialtone wrote:
20 Mar 2022, 01:28
The errors from Charles were just because he was at the limit, I would consider them hard to remove them without going slower.
You´re smart. That´s exactly it.

Will not explain my reason why, as I no longer have time for it this weekend, but I fear Red Bull is gonna walk away during the race. QLF pace is something, race pace is something else. Ferrari needs to prove itself today

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chrisc90
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Joined: 23 Feb 2022, 21:22

Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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https://the-race.com/formula-1/mark-hug ... -red-bull/

Interesting read from The-Race. Seems max lost a huge amount of time in the last corner.
Mess with the Bull - you get the horns.

sunny1304r
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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I think some of you are not considering the fact that this year racing should be different, they should be able to follow closely, so overtaking at the first corner like previous years should have less impact than ever. Also just because Ferrari screw up in the past doesn't mean that they will do the same this year just like Mercedes was on top for several years but this year somehow they are lost at least for now.

silver
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Re: 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

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Top 3 have new Softs available. 3 behind them don't. Magnussen and Alonso has a new set behind them.

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Pirelli's race strategy prediction.
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