2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Race Thread

Max Verstappen says he’d honestly rather have taken a 5-second penalty than having to give that lead back to Lewis Hamilton.

The Bahrain Grand Prix was a total nail-biter at the end—Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were locked in this massive battle right until the final lap for the win.

The Dutchman was absolutely flying after those last pit stops, hunting down Hamilton, and eventually pulled an overtake on the outside at the Turn 4 incident with just four laps left. But since all four wheels went off the track during the move, he had to hand the position back to Lewis Hamilton. The Briton ended up taking the win, and afterward, Verstappen was grilling his team about why they didn't let him keep the spot:

"Why didn't you let me through? I could have easily built a 5-second gap. I'd much rather lose the win like that than finish second," Verstappen said over the radio.

Team boss Christian Horner told him that race control had ordered them to give the position back to Lewis Hamilton.

"Look, it sucks, but you have to look at the positives. We were fighting with them, and it's a great way to kick off the season," Verstappen commented after the race.

Verstappen had been complaining about car issues in the slow corners from the jump, saying the team still needs to figure out what's causing it.

"I'm not sure what happened there. I don't think we sorted it during the race. We'll go look at the data, but overall, we finished and walked away with a huge haul of points," Max added.
https://www.f1-bih.com/verstappen-ze...ndi-prednosti/

Imola🙂

bluepuma9 said:There’s basically no reason to penalize anyone unless they’re actually gaining an advantage on track. Plenty of drivers used that tactic just to save their tires during the most technical sections, but clearly, Max Verstappen didn't think of it.

No logic in penalizing...
But there's plenty of logic in handing Sebastian Vettel 5 penalty points at Bahrain 🙏🤣
Man, even Pastor Maldonado couldn't rack up 5 points in a single race during his wildest starts. This has to be some kind of record.🤣

stormybadger8 said:It makes zero sense to penalize...
But honestly, handing Sebastian Vettel 5 penalty points for Bahrain just makes perfect sense if you're looking at it through some twisted lens 🙏🤣
Man, even Pastor Maldonado couldn't manage to rack up 5 penalty points in a single race during his wildest days, so I guess we're witnessing some kind of legendary record here 🤣

Seriously though, what number are you running on your car to be pulling in that many points under these new rules? 🤣

Sergio Perez is absolutely going to run circles around Valtteri Bottas this year.

neonfox65 said:Wait, didn't he have a fresh set of reds?

The reds lasted maybe 3 or 4 laps before he just completely fell off the pace—it was rough. Just look at what happened with Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas.

wiredfalcon2 said:I mean, Lewis is probably one of the cleanest drivers out there—he almost never gets into any dirty fights when he's battling others, which is pretty different from a lot of other champions I guess.

Mass would probably disagree with that though. 😬

wiredseal7 said:total mafia move. They didn't bother updating the rules while Lewis Hamilton was out there doing it 29 times—they only cared once Red Bull finally realized what he was pulling (btw, the fact that it took them 29 laps to notice—and honestly, the way this whole race is being run—is enough to get Christian Horner fired).

He should've been gone a long time ago, it's just hard to find a decent boss anywhere these days, I guess.

I don't subscribe to the various conspiracy theories surrounding Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes-Benz, though I will say the officiating needs to be far more decisive. It is simply unacceptable to allow a driver to gain a temporal advantage by cutting corners over thirty laps, only to have the stewards suddenly decide to enforce the rules in the middle of the race...

Richard Green73 said:I don't buy into any conspiracy theories regarding Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes-Benz, but the officiating needs to be more decisive. It’s unacceptable to let a driver maintain a time advantage by cutting corners over thirty laps, only to suddenly start enforcing the rules right in the middle of the race...

My neutral take is that Lewis Hamilton didn't gain an advantage here. As for this talk about cutting corners, Max Verstappen was penalized because at the exact moment they were battling for position, he was off on all four wheels; besides, the following sequence is a gentle left followed by a gentle right, which ultimately favors him on the left.

It wasn't just Hamilton "cutting corners"; plenty of other drivers have been doing the same thing lap after lap.

As far as I am aware, it was stated during the pre-race briefing that such moves wouldn't be sanctioned, so Red Bull essentially shot themselves in the foot.

By the way, I would have preferred to see Max Verstappen win, but it simply isn't happening, primarily due to poor strategy.

In my estimation, that logic simply doesn't hold up; Turn 4 follows an extensive straightaway where those who opted for the shortcut could have easily delayed their braking points, allowing them to carry significantly more momentum into turns 5 and 6... I am convinced there was a measurable advantage to be gained right there.

darkmarlin16 said:Sergio Perez is going to absolutely dominate Valtteri Bottas this year.

I don't see that happening. Mercedes-Benz will have a car on par with Red Bull Racing before we know it.
And honestly? They'll probably be faster by the time the season hits its stride.

Richard Green73 said:It doesn't track for me—turn 4 comes right after that long straight, so anyone cutting it could have braked later and carried way more speed into sections 5 and 6. I'm certain they could've squeezed out some extra time there.

Of course they could—better line, better tire wear, all that. Maybe that's why Lewis Hamilton was actually able to hang with Max Verstappen during that first stint (he had those nine little excursions at turn 4 on the mediums) and pull off a clean undercut. A tenth or two makes a massive difference when the cars are this close.

The FIA claims they had eyes on a couple of drivers constantly monitoring that corner, saying everyone except one person stayed within the limits most of the time. Either the stewards were blind, or they were just being stingy about Sir Lewis Hamilton's minor infractions.

Anthony Baker84 said:He should've been shown the door ages ago—the real issue is finding a decent boss to replace him.

Just swap him out with Helmut Marko from Red Bull Racing.

Raymond Anderson4 said:They won't, because Mercedes-Benz will soon have a car that matches Red Bull Racing.
And they’ll likely find even more speed as the season progresses.

In my estimation, the Mercedes-Benz machine is already superior; the only thing missing is having the best driver behind the wheel.

Red Bull really dropped the ball here.

First off, they completely missed the opportunity on turn 4.
Secondly, if they hadn't stayed silent, there wouldn't have been a mid-race decision, and Max's overtake would have stood.

Thirdly, the strategy was just off. Max spent about 15 or 16 laps glued to the back of that Mercedes-Benz. That constant chasing is ultimately what cost him the win; by the time he actually engaged in the fight with Sir Lewis Hamilton, his tires were shot. He had zero traction left. While Red Bull was killing it in the high-speed corners where their aero really shines, they were getting eaten alive in the slow and medium speed turns because the rubber just wasn't there anymore.
Max isn't just battling Lewis; he's up against the entire Mercedes-Benz machine. They are a brutal operation—they watch everything, analyze every detail, and always seem to have an answer ready.

graniteharbor502 said:The Mercedes-Benz is already the superior car. They just don't have the best driver at the moment.

I have to disagree there. Red Bull Racing is actually the better machine. They didn't lose ground to Mercedes-Benz in a single sector.
Plus, they were making up massive gaps in the third sector. Max Verstappen was consistently dropping tenths of a second just in sector three.
Right now, Red Bull is definitely the faster car.

mellowtiger83 said:My neutral take is that Lewis didn't gain any kind of advantage here. I don't know what you mean by "stealing" a win...

I disagree. In my book, Lewis definitely gained an edge. We're talking at least 30 x 0.1—so about 3 seconds.

mellowtiger83 said:... Honestly, I'd have preferred to see Max take it, but it wasn't just down to bad strategy.

I’m with you on that. Max handed this one over.
All this talk about Lewis being some sort of alien superhuman? It's total nonsense.

Roger Wright94 said:In my view, Lewis gained an edge right there. At least 3 seconds if you do the math—30 times 0.1.

I’ve got to agree. Max really lost this one.
All that talk about Lewis being an alien? It just doesn't hold water.

I think Red Bull needs more races with lighter workloads. Yesterday, the engine definitely took a bigger hit than they wanted. He just couldn't keep pace with Lewis under a standard operating mode, or whatever the technical term is.

Raymond Anderson4 said:I can't agree with you there. Red Bull Racing is clearly the superior car. They didn't lose a single sector compared to Mercedes-Benz.
Plus, they were making up ground in the third sector. Max was consistently dropping tenths off just in sector three alone.
Right now it’s obvious Red Bull Racing has the faster car.

Is it the car or is it Max?
Do me a favor and actually look at the race data. If you're talking about both Red Bull Racing cars, then sure, maybe you've got a point. Otherwise...
It's entirely possible the driver was simply faster. Just one guy. Max.

We'll see how the cars actually compare once we see how everyone else performs on track.

Raymond Anderson4 said:I have to respectfully disagree there, because I truly believe Red Bull Racing holds the edge. If you look at the data, Red Bull didn't suffer a single sector deficit when compared to Mercedes-Benz.
Plus, if we consider how they managed to pull away during that third sector—it was quite remarkable, wasn't it? Max was consistently shaving off tenths of a second just within that third sector alone.
At this point in time, Red Bull Racing is undoubtedly the superior car.

If you were to take a moment to compare Perez's lap times and his overall gap, perhaps the reality of the situation would become much more transparent to you. He simply couldn't match the pace set by Bottas, who was so dominant that he even had enough margin to pit one last time just to go out and set a blistering fastest lap.

graniteharbor502 said:Just look at Perez's lap times and the gap—it makes everything obvious. He couldn't even match Bottas's pace, and Bottas still had enough left in him to pit one more time just to snag the fastest lap.

Perez really should've been fighting for the top ten.
Even during free practice, he was just nursing those tires for moments like this—otherwise, he would've just ended up stuck behind someone else.
Bottas was constantly trailing Verstappen by at least three seconds, pushing his limits from pit to pit—you could tell when they asked him to pick it up, he simply didn't have it in him.