57 laps of the 5.412-kilometre Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir 26th Mar Practice 1 11:30 - 12:30 26th Mar Practice 2 15:00 - 16:00 27th Mar Practice 3 12:00 - 13:00 27th Mar Qualifying 15:00 - 16:00 28th Mar Race 16:00 - 17:00* All UK times *UK Summer time - clocks go forward 1hr!!!! Poll closes just before quali. Difficult to do the poll as too many drivers too little space
Blimey, is it that time of the year?! First GP! Well, Red Bull and Honda look as well prepared as they ever have been. Mercedes have looked slightly out of sorts. But then again, they looked well behind Ferrari a couple of years ago until they essentially unveiled a b spec amount of change and hammered everyone at the Aus GP, so you just don’t know whether they might yet come out and dominate again. The one thing was they looked like they were overheating these new tyres and Lewis was hating them when he tested them for Pirelli last year and was scathing in his description. Go back to 2010-2012 (before the scandal of the private tyres test- remember that?!), Merc always chewed up their rear tyres which hindered their real pace. I wonder if the tyres have gone against them and that hot and rear limited tracks will be an issue for them this year? Perez ought to bloody love it this year if this is a tyre-cuddling sort of season so he will have some fun for Red Bull you’d think and is an outside bet this week. Aston Martin look very similar to Merc so I think will be mighty some weekends and some not. Alpha Tauri look very neat but I think about a half second behind the Bulls. Ferrari and Alfa Romeo both look improved but unless they have an ace up their sleeve they’re a little behind. The eye catcher for me is McLaren- I love their rebuild under Zach and the awesome Andreas Seidl and James Key. There was something about their test that just looked efficiently and dare I say it- effortlessly impressive. They’ve been pretty strong at rear limited circuits and excellent under braking, so with a Mercedes PU and a very drag-minimal car, they really ought to have a positive weekend in Bahrain. Red Bull the team to beat, Mercedes to reveal what the reality really is, and McLaren a menacing dark horse for the podium slots. Let’s hope it’s close, let’s hope there’s more than just two teams fighting at the front! F12021 is go!
Great Post Tpp Class. Just started watching practice 1 and it looked like Aston Martin were heating the brakes in the garage! 2021 season here we come.
If practice 1 is anything to go by looks like it might be a good season. Red bull, Merc, maclaren and ferrari all within 0.6 sec. OK so it may not be representative as we will have to wait till qualifying for that. I am optimistic we might have some close teams.
I watched P1 too. Merc did better than during the test, not so twitchy. We still haven't seen the real performance of any of the cars but I was hoping for a better show by Williams and Alpine. I had no expectations about Haas. This morning was probably testing, hopefully, the impact of changes made since testing 2 weeks ago. With luck the pecking order may not be as appears for Williams and Alpine. I want to see George and Alonso at least in the middle of the pack.
Wouldn't it be amazing to have have a four way battle for both titles... We can dream.... We can dream.
All the best F1 drivers do. Ask Kimi. Apart from Hamilton, and we all know what he means when he says Fricking. I’d rather he just came out and said it.
1-16th in FP2 covered by a little over one second, makes it hard to draw conclusions, but fingers crossed we can have a field that tight this season. Doesn't feel like Alpine or Aston are wear they expected to be though.
I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much. It's looking good but who knows what they're all playing.
I suspect we are going to see some real chop and change in the ferocious midfield from circuit to circuit. Alpine are absolutely pot committed to 2022- their whole (Renault) return to F1 is judged form next year so don’t write them off on a shocking 2021 if it turns out that way. I hope McLaren can get on the podium this weekend! Unfortunately race pace looks like Red Bull and Merc might smash them That said a heck of a step forward to be splitting Merc and RBR if they can repeat tomorrow.
After a hectic day, managed to catch up with a tiny bit of practice. Is that a higher rake on the Merc? Guess they're having to alter the philosophy a tad if so.
I haven’t heard it mentioned. Toto said in an interview that for them it’s not simply a case of jacking up the rake because the whole philosophy of the Red Bull suspension is different to work with the higher rake.
That Red Bull looks incredibly strong. Not just fast, but visibly much more composed than any other car. Max will be handing out a bum whooping this weekend at this rate.