2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

[RonMexico]

Almost flawless race by Ferrari. Leclerc was flat out fast and made the right moves when tested. Sainz seemed to get better the longer the race went on.

Binotto has to be head over heels. It's been a long two years. Now to carry it through the season.

They really seem to have completely changed the culture in Maranello, such an incredible turnaround considering how poor things were in March 2020

[proteus]

Still We Recover not Still We Rise. Good Strategy Merc Team.

In what way did the mercedes strategy influence this result?

Driving at the back and waiting for RedBulls to retire + some dancing on new tyres and an occasional fight with Magnussen

[ENGINE TUNER]

Thanks heaven the Mercedes is so great. It's easier to improve on PU reliability than finding 5-6 tenths a lap, even under the new regs.

Lol no, It's way harder to fix a power unit issue than it is an aero issue in the current formula.

Can't just be aero with all mercs trailing at the back and top speed down

Top speed is moreso defined by drag level than peak hp

[Restomaniac]

A reminder that F1 is still in the hybrid era. I'm reminded of its first year...

Yep. If RedBull power is fast but fragile they may have to turn them down and seeing as we no longer have qualifying modes.

I suspect it might be fuel related, to both go within a lap of each other, so close to the end?

It’s 3 RedBull powered cars. In fact they were the only cars to retire.

[lh13]

Take your toxicity elsewhere please. Reported as spam.

Charles outsmarted Max, thats a fact fella.

I was suprised max wanted to pass in t1 everytime

Second drs is shorter and it becomes extremely difficult to overtake if the leading driver chooses inside line. Max was overtaken because he had to compromise his line into turn 1-2, if Max stayed behind Lec, Lec would keep ideal line thorough 1-2 and becomes extremely difficult to overtake him. Max took his chances when he could, because Ferrari clearly had more pace.

I hope you understand it better now.

[epo]

Great job of Charles! Good to see the true nature of some regular posters here, if this is what keeps you going I feel sorry for you!

[Restomaniac]

Id say a MGU-K or CE issue rather than ICE

Those are still restricted. After 1 race they’ve burned (pardon the pun) through 1 set.

Still open for development until Sept 22 though

What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with how many components you can use.

[Sevach]

A reminder that F1 is still in the hybrid era. I'm reminded of its first year...

Yep. If RedBull power is fast but fragile they may have to turn them down and seeing as we no longer have qualifying modes.

I suspect it might be fuel related, to both go within a lap of each other, so close to the end?

I know hydraulics is such a used up excuse, but since Max had steering issues before the power going, it may be the case here.
Perez it looked like the diff suddenly locked, which could be hydraulics related as well.

[vorticism]

For reliability purpose, you can do changes in the PU even under freeze so you can improve reliability but you can’t improve performance, it is frozen till 2025 End.

How does the FIA ensure that a reliability improvement is not also a performance improvement?

[chrisc90]

Those are still restricted. After 1 race they’ve burned (pardon the pun) through 1 set.

Still open for development until Sept 22 though

What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with how many components you can use.

Still used one if they were the issue, but the book is still open for development of those areas. Not hard to understand really.

[shamyakovic]

For reliability purpose, you can do changes in the PU even under freeze so you can improve reliability but you can’t improve performance, it is frozen till 2025 End.

How does the FIA ensure that a reliability improvement is not also a performance improvement?

There is only 1 update allowed for reliability.

[taperoo2k]

Great first race. For RedBull, performance is there, just need to work on the reliability. Looks like electrical issues rather than mechanical so PU should be fine?!

The ICE is probably fine, but if it's connected to the battery and energy recovery systems then it might be something that takes time to fix. Best case for Red Bull is that it's a cooling issue rather than anything fundamentally wrong with the Power train as a whole. If you put the fire Gasly had to one side, it looks like Perez's car conked out in a similar way. Same thing may well have happened to Verstappen if they'd not boxed him when they did. I wonder if they pushed the Power Unit beyond it's thermal limits and things broke.

Anyway I thought Leclerc controlled the race pretty well, let Max overtake on the straights and then retook the lead each time it happened. Verstappen's impatience got the better of him again today.

[Hoffman900]

For reliability purpose, you can do changes in the PU even under freeze so you can improve reliability but you can’t improve performance, it is frozen till 2025 End.

How does the FIA ensure that a reliability improvement is not also a performance improvement?

Well a reliability improvement is often a performance improvement. So it’s challenging and political.

[Mchamilton]

Charles outsmarted Max, thats a fact fella.

I was suprised max wanted to pass in t1 everytime

Second drs is shorter and it becomes extremely difficult to overtake if the leading driver chooses inside line. Max was overtaken because he had to compromise his line into turn 1-2, if Max stayed behind Lec, Lec would keep ideal line thorough 1-2 and becomes extremely difficult to overtake him. Max took his chances when he could, because Ferrari clearly had more pace.

I hope you understand it better now.

Lol i understand how racing works thanks. But you dont try the same thing 3 or 4 times in a row and expect a different result.

[Juzh]

Lol no, It's way harder to fix a power unit issue than it is an aero issue in the current formula.

No, you can change/fix the unit for reliability, that is why they have reliability upgrades

You still have to find the issue and fix it, and you have no guarantee the fix won't cost you performance. Not to mention, if memory serves the new rules require approval from the other teams.

Depends. Verstappen's steering problems indicate problem could be traced down to hydraulics, and those components could be outside of engine freeze, but don't quote me on that.