2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

[Zynerji]

I think the drivers were a bit tentative today with the new cars, might take a few races before a clear judgement can be made about the racing. The good thing is we saw a pretty good battle between Leclerc and Verstappen at the front.

Nice, but a bit predictable no? I DRS you here, you DRS me down the road.

DRS only seemed effective for redbull, beyond them I didn't see it gaining teams much

I feel drivers will start to go offline, and avoid the slipstream, when using DRS from now on.

[maxxer]

That was be expected, you cant have a cleaner wake and the same/better slipstream at the same time

Yes indeed the floor and rear wing move all the air up and over the car following so what is left for those massive front wings to bite into

Theres still plenty of air for them to drive into, otherwise how would they be able to have improved aero performance when following compared to last year. Dont forget the air exiting the diffuser is almost at ambient pressure so front wing still has a good flow. It was the giant votices that were produce by the barge boards and rear wing endplates of the old cars that they have wanted to get rid of.

Ah yes so at least its a clean air stream not going in like a cessna after a wide body

[Dr. Acula]

Ah! You didn't notice that for strategic reasons RedBull started Max on used softs. This is what explained the first stin. After that Max had similar pace or better before his tyres started to go off.

I was actually impressed how the RedBull swallowed up so much road on the main straight to catch Charles. Impressive car.

Still nip and tuck but visually the RedBull has the better overall balance. They just didn't get the tyre management right in this race.

Yeah but the second stint was the same story, the gap was crawling slowly but steadily towards 4-5 secs. Maybe I accept that blocking his tyres played a role, but even on the mediums Verstappen was never close and the gap creeped up to 4 secs again before the final pit stop.

RedBull were also having brake overheating issues the whole races, as reported during live broadcast, so that could be it. Plus RB looked to have gone with lower downforce than Ferrari here, and with their top speed advantage, perhaps they can afford to add a bit of dirty downforce to take care of their tyre degradation a bit better.

Only remember it to be an issue at the first 2 stints. Normally break temperature issues get better as longer the race goes because the cars get lighter.

[Spacepace]

It's a good thing F1TV finally got hold of some good commentators this year who aren't absolute morons such as 80% of sky crew, so I finally no longer have to listen to them. Pff, what a relief. Ted is the biggest clown of them all, followed by hill and herbert.

Funny how Ben Edwards and Jolyon Palmer are able to stay nearly perfectly neutral despite also both being British.

I think Martin Brundle is a gem and neutral. I prefer it for that reason. But I'd love to have Ben Edwards beside him or James Allen

Come on man, James Allen!!!!! Never in a million years! He was 100 times more hyper and crazy than crofty

Slight nostalgic bias possibly. I just think his voice isn't annoying like Croft's

[maxxer]

Epic race!

At last Red Bull and Max get what they deserve...! Leclerc is the only guy that can play Max's games and still beat him fair and square! Hamilton wasn't quite that aggressive last year...

The new cars seem to do exactly what they were designed for...everyone was so close together and cars following never looked unsettled by the car in front!! Bravo F1!!

Ahh the pettiness stll continues from the Merc boys.

Wouldnt say the new cars did much different from last year either. 1/3 of the grid got lapped by lap 40 and huge gaps between everyone.

Only bonus was cars seemed to sit right behind better.

Jokes on you!! AMG Tarzan is NOT a Mercedes boy. He is a Schumacher fan and he is very critical of Merc actually.

Lol seems its more people hating Mercedes nowadays venting their anger , but now suddenly Ferrari got it right

[lh13]

Yeah but the second stint was the same story, the gap was crawling slowly but steadily towards 4-5 secs. Maybe I accept that blocking his tyres played a role, but even on the mediums Verstappen was never close and the gap creeped up to 4 secs again before the final pit stop.

RedBull were also having brake overheating issues the whole races, as reported during live broadcast, so that could be it. Plus RB looked to have gone with lower downforce than Ferrari here, and with their top speed advantage, perhaps they can afford to add a bit of dirty downforce to take care of their tyre degradation a bit better.

Only remember it to be an issue at the first 2 stints. Normally break temperature issues get better as longer the race goes because the cars get lighter.

Even in the second stint, as Max was allowed to have only 1-2 attempts on Lec to keep the brake temps in check. Now sure how long the problem lasted after that.

[NathanOlder]

I think Martin Brundle is a gem and neutral. I prefer it for that reason. But I'd love to have Ben Edwards beside him or James Allen

Come on man, James Allen!!!!! Never in a million years! He was 100 times more hyper and crazy than crofty

Slight nostalgic bias possibly. I just think his voice isn't annoying like Croft's

Maybe, I just hated the looooong shouts he used to do.

[Dee]

Guys, this may have been the problem for RB

"The teams and the FIA are worried about fuel delivery. The main pump from the catchtank into the high-pressure pump is a standard part built by Marelli since this year. During the tests, some teams had problems with the electronics, which were cast in a resin box next to the pump. Cracks developed. This allowed petrol to penetrate and destroy the electronics. Allegedly, this was the reason why hardly any race distances were covered during the tests. After qualifying, some teams asked the FIA to check the pumps. The request was granted, of course. Nothing would be more embarrassing than a mass death because of this part"

From AMuS

V Serious and the FIA will have to get this fixed if it is the cause

[Shakeman]

Must have been taking pages out the Merc fans books then

To be fair, it looks like you've got more of a problem yourself bleating on about so-called 'Merc fans.'

[mzso]

FFS. Did Hamilton get a four leaf clover enema after 2007? Everything fortunate that can happen to him, does.

[chrisc90]

Sainz car getting very closely inspected by the FIA in the garage.

[AeroDynamic]

Wow what a race!

Ferrari, very impressive to see how they did with concerns to their race pace. Congrats to the Tifosi and Ferrari. They have started their season off beautifully.

Crazy madness with the Red Bulls, to go from the most reliable rock solid engine last season, to this is a shock and very unexpected. Max's attitude towards the team that gave him a great car and engine last season stinks. But not surprising.

Mercedes, what a surprise podium and bag of points they got, they'll definitely take that. I'm afraid that Mercedes wont sort themselves out in time and RBR will be a reliability mess, we wont get a real title fight this season if one of them don't get it together.

Good for Haas to be fighting for points again.

Drivers?

Charles – brilliant job. outraced Max as expected. Top drivers can beat Max now that the rules are going back to normal about wheel to wheel and leaving a space. Now that you can't run the driver off the road in such a crass way, drivers will have to race properly and there wont be no cheating drivers out of positions and wins!

Sainz needs to figure out the car, he should be closer to Charles.. but I told people I think Sainz is a 1.5 driver, he did fantastic last year but I think Charles at his best is the real deal.

Lewis and George – good job. George is close to lewis as expected and they both brought back good points.

Bottas, same old story? great in qualifying, and just seems to be a different animal in race :/ I guess those theories about Bottas being sabotaged or having a slower car than his old teammate have proved to be nonsense!

Daniel's days in F1 look to be shorter and shorter if his performance deficit continues

[ENGINE TUNER]

So verdict on the racing or still to early to call it a success? Im not sure that last years cars wouldn’t have produced the same spectacle personally.

The racing will never improve until they get rid of pirelli

[ringo]

FFS. Did Hamilton get a four leaf clover enema after 2007? Everything fortunate that can happen to him, does.

He put himself in position with key overtakes, as well as pressured Perez into the failure. If he was too far away from Perez it would have been possible for Perez to cruise home maybe. Hamilton was fortunate, but he had to be in thick of things to apply pressure.

As for the race, Charles made the best of a car that at times seemed equal to the redbull and lower on top speed.
Perez was the fastest man on track for most of the race I think. Max had some opportunities to overtake, but I believe his weakness may be tyre management, or possibly he got the setup wrong. The gap to Leclerc fell at the end of the stints after Max abused the tyres. Maybe how he was driving the outlaps and some of the late brakings.
But I do not think the Ferrari is night and day better. It is more reliable for sure and has better acceleration, but Redbull is better everwhere else. Makes for an interesting season!

Max isn't looking so good now, now that the rival car is not compromised and is about equal. Also with proper stewarding, the wheel banging is no longer in the play book.
He made Leclerc look like the more mature driver with all the ranting and blaming the team.

[ringo]

F1 is a competitive sport and this forum has grown men and women in it.
Fans should be allowed to have fighting talk.
No one is complain when someone said Lewis had some lucky charm enema or whatever. Which is disgusting.
He got outraced physically and psychologically and Ferrari fans are enjoying the triumph. Mercedes fans are grateful their car is second in the constructors despite being the 4th fastest car.
Max will lick his wounds and come back madder in a week's time.