Bahrain Grand Prix – Race: Leclerc and Ferrari unbeatable

The beautiful takeoff of Charles Leclerc allowed him to retain the lead of the race against the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen. While Carlos Sainz held onto his third position at the start, the Spaniard was unable to keep up with the drivers ahead of him. After seven laps, the Ferrari driver was trailing Verstappen by four seconds.

A turbulent mid-pack

Starting ninth on the grid after a disappointing qualifying session, George Russell still made a great start by overtaking Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly approaching the first corner. On the fifth lap, the British driver gained an advantage by overtaking Kevin Magnussen and moved up to sixth position. This is the minimum position that Mercedes expects from its young prodigy at the beginning of this season.

In the midfield, it was a bit more messy for Esteban Ocon, who had just sent Mick Schumacher spinning at the approach of the sixth turn of the fourth lap. With this collision, Ocon received a five-second penalty. On the twelfth lap, Lewis Hamilton became the first driver of the season to make a pit stop. The seven-time world champion got rid of his soft tires to put on hard ones. An surprising choice since even Pirelli did not recommend this type of tires for the race. A first mistake on Mercedes’ part. Hamilton was struggling with his new tires and couldn’t even turn his car at the first corner. On hard and “cold” tires, his car was unresponsive. A few laps later, the English team made the same mistake for Russell.

Indeed, this is one of the new features of the season. The heated blankets provide less temperature to the tires before they are installed during the pit stop. The warming process must now be done on the track. It now requires at least half a lap, depending on the tire compound, for them to reach their optimal operating window.

First duel

Three laps later, it was Max Verstappen’s turn to dive into the pits in an attempt to undercut his rival for the win. With his new soft tires, the Dutchman had a superb out lap, allowing him to close the gap to less than five tenths of a second with Leclerc. This was followed by a thrilling battle for the lead between the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers. For three laps, Leclerc and Verstappen constantly swapped positions. Every time the Dutchman made a move on the inside of the Ferrari at Turn 1, the Monégasque would slow down to regain the DRS and regain the lead at Turn 4.

Exiting the struggle as the winner, the Monegasque driver also managed to keep himself out of reach from the current world champion during the second round of pit stops. By pushing too hard, Verstappen locked up his tires, allowing his opponent to gain an advantage.

The Safety Car which disrupts the race.

While Pierre Gasly was having a strong race in the points with his modest AlphaTauri, the Normandy driver’s engine caught fire on the 46th lap, forcing him to park at the 3rd turn. It was in the flames that the hopes of a Top 10 finish evaporated for the Frenchman. This incident brought out the Safety Car on the track, reigniting the battle for victory between Leclerc and Verstappen.

Unfortunately for the Dutchman, leaving Bahrain as the championship leader seemed unlikely with a power steering issue. For about ten laps, Verstappen was complaining on the radio about having difficulties with his steering wheel. As soon as the race restarted on the 51st lap, Leclerc was rebuilding his lead by establishing a gap of 1.3 seconds with his closest pursuer.

The disaster for Red Bull

On the 11th turn of the 54th lap, Sainz dove to the inside of the Dutchman to take second position. Verstappen encountered new complications with his car, in addition to his faulty power steering. He complained about a battery problem, although his engineer told him otherwise. This reliability issue with his car forced the driver to retire. But the Red Bull catastrophe didn’t stop there. It was now his teammate, Sergio Perez, who suffered an electronic problem, causing a spin and forcing him to stop on the track. Hamilton took advantage of this to take third position in the race. Out of the four Honda engines on the grid, three were unable to finish the race. These were, in fact, the only three retirements of the day. A disastrous start for the Red Bull team. It was clearly not the best way to start this new chapter.

Ferrari for the double

With the issues at Red Bull, Sainz took second place until the end of the race. Ferrari achieved its first one-two finish in two and a half years with Leclerc’s success, ahead of Sainz. A perfect weekend for the Italian team with a pole position, a double finish in the race, and the fastest lap by Leclerc. It confirms its status as a favorite in the beginning of this new era of F1. Hamilton completes the podium. A surprising placement given the problems with the Mercedes this weekend.

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