The 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Thread

[cmlean]

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 1st round of the 2021 season taking place in Bahrain between the 26th and 28th of March.

To submit your 10 'n' Pole Picks for Bahrain click here, to register in the competition click here.

Picks for Bahrain close at the start of Saturday practice

The event timetable for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 14:30 local time - 11:30 GMT
2nd Practice 18:00 local time - 15:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 15:00 local time - 12:00 GMT
Qualifying 18:00 local time - 15:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 18:00 local time - 15:00 GMT

[cmlean]

It seems to have been such a long off season, waiting for Lewis Hamilton to commit to Mercedes one more time.
The seats seemed to fill relatively quickly with a couple of rookies filling the pair of Haas seats and an older hand jumping into the Red Bull. Everything else seemed a to fit the rumour mill.

This weekend, we are off to Bahrain at a somewhat different time of the year. Following an indifferent pre-season test for Mercedes, we may possibly have an unlikely winner for the first round. Red Bull have been quick, Aston Martin not so with McLaren somewhere towards the top. Alpha Tauri and Alpine are going pretty well as are Ferrari. This is a marked improvement on 2020 for the red sleds. Haas and Williams look to have the back end sewn up and Alfa Romeo are not that far away.

I am waiting eagerly for the first practice session to get an indication on where all teams are at.

[cmlean]

FP1 Results

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Pos	Time		Driver		   Team
1	1:31.394	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing
2	1:31.692	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
3	1:31.897	Lando Norris	   McLaren
4	1:31.921	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
5	1:31.993	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
6	1:32.071	Sergio Perez	   Red Bull Racing
7	1:32.195	Pierre Gasly	   AlphaTauri
8	1:32.366	Carlos Sainz	   Ferrari
9	1:32.434	Daniel Ricciardo   McLaren
10	1:32.786	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing
11	1:33.134	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing
12	1:33.157	Sebastian Vettel   Aston Martin
13	1:33.233	Lance Stroll	   Aston Martin
14	1:33.329	Yuki Tsunoda	   AlphaTauri
15	1:33.528	Esteban Ocon	   Alpine
16	1:33.872	Fernando Alonso	   Alpine
17	1:34.127	George Russell	   Williams
18	1:34.340	Nicholas Latifi	   Williams
19	1:34.501	Mick Schumacher	   Haas
20	1:34.975	Nikita Mazepin	   Haas

The first session for 2021 is in the books and it seems that Red Bull and Max Verstappen hasn't let us down topping the time sheets.

[cmlean]

FP2 Results

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Pos	Time		Driver		   Team
1	1:30.847	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing
2	1:30.942	Lando Norris	   McLaren
3	1:31.082	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
4	1:31.127	Carlos Sainz	   Ferrari
5	1:31.218	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
6	1:31.230	Daniel Ricciardo   McLaren
7	1:31.294	Yuki Tsunoda	   AlphaTauri
8	1:31.393	Lance Stroll	   Aston Martin
9	1:31.483	Pierre Gasly	   AlphaTauri
10	1:31.503	Sergio Perez	   Red Bull Racing
11	1:31.601	Esteban Ocon	   Alpine
12	1:31.612	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
13	1:31.740	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing
14	1:31.769	Sebastian Vettel   Aston Martin
15	1:31.770	Fernando Alonso	   Alpine
16	1:31.862	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing
17	1:32.331	George Russell	   Williams
18	1:33.297	Mick Schumacher	   Haas
19	1:33.400	Nicholas Latifi	   Williams
20	1:33.449	Nikita Mazepin	   Haas

This race is being set up well with 1 second covering the top15 drivers at the end of the session.
Kimi would probably be in there too except for time spent repairing his Alfa Romeo following contact with the barriers early in the session.
Ferrari seem to have made the biggest gains following a disastrous 2020.

[Tim]

That is so close! Lets hope it actually stays like that for Qualy

[cmlean]

FP3 results

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Pos	Time		Driver		   Team
1	1:30.577	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing
2	1:31.316	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
3	1:31.583	Pierre Gasly	   AlphaTauri
4	1:31.855	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
5	1:31.908	Sergio Perez	   Red Bull Racing
6	1:32.108	Carlos Sainz	   Ferrari
7	1:32.224	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing
8	1:32.423	Esteban Ocon	   Alpine
9	1:32.431	Lance Stroll	   Aston Martin
10	1:32.477	Daniel Ricciardo   McLaren
11	1:32.482	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
12	1:32.500	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing
13	1:32.709	Yuki Tsunoda	   AlphaTauri
14	1:32.755	Sebastian Vettel   Aston Martin
15	1:32.820	Fernando Alonso	   Alpine
16	1:32.860	Lando Norris	   McLaren
17	1:33.323	George Russell	   Williams
18	1:33.422	Mick Schumacher	   Haas
19	1:33.622	Nikita Mazepin	   Haas
20	1:33.959	Nicholas Latifi	   Williams

[cmlean]

Qualifying

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Pos	Time		Driver		   Team
1	1:28.997	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing
2	1:29.385	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
3	1:29.586	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
4	1:29.678	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
5	1:29.809	Pierre Gasly	   AlphaTauri
6	1:29.927	Daniel Ricciardo   McLaren
7	1:29.974	Lando Norris	   McLaren
8	1:30.215	Carlos Sainz	   Ferrari
9	1:30.249	Fernando Alonso	   Alpine
10	1:30.601	Lance Stroll	   Aston Martin
____________________________________________________________
11	1:30.659	Sergio Perez	   Red Bull Racing
12	1:30.708	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing
13	1:31.203	Yuki Tsunoda	   AlphaTauri
14	1:31.238	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing
15	1:33.430	George Russell	   Williams
____________________________________________________________
16	1:31.724	Esteban Ocon	   Alpine
17	1:31.936	Nicholas Latifi	   Williams
18	1:32.056	Sebastian Vettel   Aston Martin
19	1:32.449	Mick Schumacher	   Haas
20	1:33.273	Nikita Mazepin	   Haas

[cmlean]

Wow! That was some session. Max showed that the Red Bull is the real deal in the one lap shootout mode. Now that he has pole, it is now up to the team to work out a way to keep him there. Sergio Perez, while missing out on making Q3, is in the next best position and allows his free choice of tyres to start the race. His Q2 was compromised when his first run time was cancelled due to exceeding track limits.
It was great to see Ferrari are somewhat there after their disastrous 2020. The pace shown in the earlier sessions remained in what must be a confidence boost for both of their drivers.
The AlphaTauri's will be the dark horses in this race. Pierre Gasly has shown that they have the pace and Yuki Tsunoda was unlucky to not get out of Q2. He had been so quick in all other sessions.

[Tim]

I thoroughly enjoyed that qualy! The field is closer that last season so there will always be drama!

Perhaps we finally have two real contenders for the title and behind them it is so tight, Alpha Tauri impressed as well. Feel sorry for Honda, they could shine in the year they are quitting the sport

Hoping for a clean but exciting race

[cmlean]

Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		   Team
1	Lewis Hamilton	   Mercedes
2	Max Verstappen	   Red Bull Racing
3	Valtteri Bottas	   Mercedes
4	Lando Norris	   McLaren
5	Sergio Perez	   Red Bull Racing
6	Charles Leclerc	   Ferrari
7	Daniel Ricciardo   McLaren
8	Carlos Sainz	   Ferrari
9	Yuki Tsunoda	   AlphaTauri
10	Lance Stroll	   Aston Martin Racing
11	Kimi Räikkönen	   Alfa Romeo Racing
12	Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing
13	Esteban Ocon	   Alpine
14	George Russell	   Williams
15	Sebastian Vettel   Aston Martin Racing
16	Mick Schumacher	   Haas
17	Pierre Gasly	   AlphaTauri
18	Nicholas Latifi	   Williams
DNF	Fernando Alonso	   Alpine
DNF	Nikita Mazepin	   Haas

That was some race. The closing stages with Max hunting down Lewis and the resistance shown was enthralling.
If this is an indication of what's in store for the rest of 2021, you've got me!

[Tim]

What a race! All through the field, it was exciting to watch and Mercedes and Hamilton outsmarted Red Bull and Verstappen. Verstappen should have won this race, no question, the fact the he didn't is testament to how good Hamilton is, he almost lost the race when he locked up and ran wide which allowed Verstappen to get very close but then after the overtake off the track which Verstappen had to give back, Verstappen did a mistake of his own and dropped back and that pretty much sealed it for Hamilton but that was a great duel.
It was also exciting behind them, Perez coming through the field after his car decided to 'shutdown and restart!!', Lando was impressive and so was Tsunoda but it is very tight behind Mercedes and Red Bull, it will change every race. Pity Gasly lost his front wing and whatever issue Alonso had.

Oh and I like the Aston Martin safety car ... it looked fast!