2024 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, Feb 29 - Mar 02

[langedweil]

Well, let's wait until the long run data comes available ...

[Logie]

Wow atleast that was interesting, Merc at top, strong race sims from Pias, but again we dont know fuels, performance etc etc.

But if its the case RB focus on smashing the race and not quali, if they are behind Merc and Ferrari after quali, wont that ruin their tyres?

Last season after a couple laps RB were flying so wouldnt be supprised if that is still the case, dunno kinda of excited but i guess we wait till Q3 tomorrow really and like said above, prob see Max on pole by .3 lol

[atanatizante]

In their FP2 race simulation stint on the same soft tyre, the times set on the 13th lap were:
HAM 1.37.4
VER 1.36.6 ... so the case is closed!
Important caveat: before that 13th lap, both drivers did a cool lap

[mendis]

Pretty much where it was in Abu Dhabi in 2023, except for Alpine.

Perez is going to finish 9th or 10th in race. He is a push over for Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren boys, along with Alonso. Difficult to imagine if Red Bull is going to win the WCC with Perez.

[Cassius]

Does anyone understand why Red Bull is so slow in s3? Same happened in testing. Mercedes is continuously gaining 2-3 tenths on a low fuel run. Sandbagging or did Red Bull trade their RB19 high speed performance for low speed?

[mkay]

In their FP2 race simulation stint on the same soft tyre, the times set on the 13th lap were:
HAM 1.37.4
VER 1.36.6 ... so the case is closed!
Important caveat: before that 13th lap, both drivers did a cool lap

Feels like Mercedes is a slippery car, but lacking downforce, which hurts them in terms of race pace/tyre management.

[mendis]

Does anyone understand why Red Bull is so slow in s3? Same happened in testing. Mercedes is continuously gaining 2-3 tenths on a low fuel run. Sandbagging or did Red Bull trade their RB19 high speed performance for low speed?

They are pretty heavy on fuel.

[zibby43]

In their FP2 race simulation stint on the same soft tyre, the times set on the 13th lap were:
HAM 1.37.4
VER 1.36.6 ... so the case is closed!
Important caveat: before that 13th lap, both drivers did a cool lap

RUS a 1.37.1 on L13

[tomism0]

Long run averages:
Russell: 1.37.078
Verstappen: 1.37.413
Leclerc: 1.37.472
Perez: 1.37.604
Hamilton: 1.37.707
Sainz: 1.37.727

Source: https://racing.recursiveprojects.cloud/

[mkay]

In their FP2 race simulation stint on the same soft tyre, the times set on the 13th lap were:
HAM 1.37.4
VER 1.36.6 ... so the case is closed!
Important caveat: before that 13th lap, both drivers did a cool lap

RUS a 1.37.1 on L13

That's still 5 tenths slower. Which is where VER started the stint too (about 3-4 tenths faster than HAM).

No matter how you look at it, RB looks at least 3-4 tenths quicker than Merc in race pace.

[Luscion]

Even if Merc are not the quickest (I still think Red bull are ahead) they are in a much better position than last year, last year they finished fp2 0.6 and 0.97 secs off the pace with a car that looked awful to drive

[f1isgood]

3 to 4 tenths slower than RB in race trim isn't too bad for Merc. Last year they were miles behind. Still not good enough to win immediately but eventually I think they'll win races.

[search]

Having only 3 PUs for the year instead of 4 may be a factor as well. Mercedes used to be the most reliable engine over the past couple of years, so I guess it would make sense that their teams run them a bit harder, while others are very cautious in practice.

[pantherxxx]

Verstappen have 1 sec/lap advantage in race pace. Red Bull has no degradation whatsoever, which means they're also not pushing yet so fast.

[AMG.Tzan]

Yeah this classification looks all nice and good but this is nowhere near reality probably…

Red Bull can’t be losing 0,2-0,3 just down the back straight…so they’re clearly sand bagging!

And this shows if we take into account the long run pace! Max easily 0,3-0,5 ahead of everyone as Palmer was saying during FP2!

Funny thing is both on the first morning of testing and today on his first timed lap Max was a mile ahead…0,6 ahead of everyone! And then suddenly they look as if they’ve lost pace

Anyway if anyone is around 0,2 behind Red Bull (Max) then we might as well have a nice race…