The prospects for the Bahrain Grand Prix

Back to Ferrari’s business

For six thousandths, it could have been a completely red front row. In the end, Max Verstappen came and ruined the party by slipping just ahead of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari. But it is indeed Charles Leclerc who secured his tenth pole position in F1. The winter tests were not just a flash in the pan done with little fuel. Now the Scuderia has a bit more certainty about its pace in pure performance.

But the hardest part begins as he will have to deliver in the race. Last year, the Monegasque driver secured two pole positions (Monaco and Azerbaijan), but was unable to capitalize on them on Sunday, even though he couldn’t defend his chances at home. He will therefore have to defend himself against the new world champion as well as against his teammate. This would allow him to get back to victory, which has eluded him since his double win at Spa-Monza in 2019. Above all, this would send a clear message to the competitors, especially internally.

Mercedes truly underperforming

Over time, one could tend to stop believing them. In recent years, we often heard Mercedes claim that they were clearly lagging behind their rivals. That was the case last year and it didn’t prevent Lewis Hamilton from ultimately winning in the Sakhir night.

This season, the time gap is much bigger: last year, the Briton started in second position, trailing behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull by 388 milliseconds. Tomorrow, the seven-time world champion will start only fifth, after conceding 680 milliseconds to Charles Leclerc. More telling, he is only 322 milliseconds ahead of his former teammate, Valterri Bottas, who has switched to Alfa Romeo.

George Russell will himself experience a challenging first qualifying session as a titular driver (since he was a substitute during the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix). An error in his last lap forces him to start from ninth place. Driver #63 will therefore have to show particular aggressiveness in the first phase of the race to climb up the standings and minimize the gaps in both championships.

A first since the Nurburgring 2020?

Indeed, we have to go back to the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix to find a Haas in the points, as last season was devoid of any points for the American team. While the team had a tumultuous winter with the departure of its title sponsor and its Russian driver, it appears to have made an excellent deal with the return of its former driver, Kevin Magnussen.

The Dane showed that he hadn’t lost any of his driving skills during his year in endurance racing. Briefly concerned by a power steering issue in Q2, he brilliantly managed to overcome it and secured the seventh fastest time in Q3. We hadn’t seen a Haas perform so well since Interlagos 2019, a sign that the regulation changes have perfectly shaken up the hierarchy.

The progress is also visible on the other side of the garage: Mick Schumacher achieved his best qualifying result, with the twelfth fastest time. If the German can take advantage of the regained power of his Ferrari engine to also make it into the final top 10, the team led by Günther Steiner could relive performances they haven’t experienced since the 2019 German Grand Prix.

McLaren and Aston Martin in great difficulty.

These are the two big disappointments of this early season: the McLaren and Aston Martin teams are far from their stated ambitions. Only Lando Norris managed to get out of Q1, once again with a large margin against his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Even more worrying at Aston Martin, Nico Hülkenberg, who discovered the car yesterday morning, outperformed Lance Stroll, who was able to participate in all the winter developments and tests.

Apart from exceptional racing circumstances, it is difficult to see how one of the representatives from these two teams could score any points at the end of the Sunday race.