2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Race Thread

Raymond Anderson4 said:What a Ferrari. Charles certainly won't be leading after just a few laps. No matter how you look at it, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-Benz are simply too fast for Ferrari.

I fail to see why not. If he manages a clean start on those soft compounds, he could easily jump into the lead after the first two corners. A four-position gain isn't an impossible feat.🙂

The race should be quite a spectacle. One ought to keep a close eye on Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc specifically; alongside Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, they are the drivers on this grid actually making a difference.

I honestly don't buy that Alonso is going to be this dominant during the race. He absolutely over-delivered in qualifying; there is zero chance that Renault is actually good enough to be sitting in 9th place. He basically did with that car what George Russell does with Williams Racing when he manages to squeeze them into Qualifying 2.

What I’m actually curious about is Vettel. I want to see what his realistic ceiling is during the race, especially since he's stuck driving that car.

Ferrari seriously made the biggest leap forward with their car and engine setup, and honestly, it’s pretty obvious these new regs just absolutely wrecked the low-rake cars.

They were such a complete disaster last season when they totally botched their car, but now? It looks absolutely incredible 😬

stormybadger8 said:That’s definitely not a given...
I'm leaning towards thinking Alonso might actually end up taking a penalty after qualifying...

Total misinformation there—Vettel is actually the only one who got summoned by the stewards for ignoring yellow flags. His hearing is set for tomorrow at 1:30 PM.

Just stopped by to pay my respects to the Maestro.

🙏🙏🙏

I honestly don't get what these refs are even doing 😵
On NFL+, for some reason they didn't even bother putting Vettel's onboard up, and now we've got this whole investigation into him because apparently he didn't slow down enough under double yellows—even though there was zero chance he could have 🤔
Basically, Vettel was right on Bottas's tail, who was right on Mazepin's tail. The second that guy spun, they were already there...
Mazepin hadn't even finished spinning before Bottas and Vettel had already zipped past him 😵
And I have no clue how double yellows could even apply in that situation...🤔

Meanwhile, they didn't say a single word about the investigations into Alonso and Hamilton 😕
Even though if you look at their onboards, it's crystal clear they were both flooring it past Sainz while he was just sitting there on the track for ages...🤔
Maybe Alonso passed Sainz before the flag actually came out—but even then, that would be a massive officiating fail since Sainz had been stationary for quite a while
but Hamilton? There's no way he passed Sainz without flags. Sainz had been sitting there for well over thirty seconds by the time Hamilton showed up...

Vettel is under investigation because of Sainz, not that whole Mazepin mess.

wiredfalcon2 said:Actually, Vettel is being investigated because of Sainz, not because of what happened with Mazepin.

No, that isn't quite right; it is actually due to the incident involving Mazepin at Turn 1.

Jason Campbell70 said:I just showed up to watch the Maestro work.

🙏🙏🙏

The guy looks like he’s ready for retirement during the opening intro.
They could have at least done something with his hair or makeup.

Still, he squeezed everything out of that car, and let me tell you, that isn't an easy feat on this track.

stormybadger8 said:On the other hand, regarding the whole Alonso and Hamilton situation, there wasn't any 😕
Even if you look at the onboard footage—which makes it pretty obvious—both of them were going full throttle past Sainz while he had been sitting stationary on the track for quite a while now...🤔
Maybe—and I mean just maybe—Alonso zipped by Sainz before the flag came out (though that would be a massive officiating blunder since Sainz had been stuck there for ages)
but there is absolutely no way Hamilton passed Sainz without a flag. I mean, Sainz had been sitting there for well over thirty seconds by the time Hamilton showed up...

Is this based on some kind of guesswork sensor? 🤣

Raymond Anderson4 said:The intro look makes him seem like he’s already retired.
They could have at least put some effort into his styling.

Still, he squeezed everything out of that car—and let's be real, that's no small feat on a track like this.

True, Lewis Hamilton lost about a tenth and a half when he was being chased through turn 10, but even a perfect lap wouldn't have closed the gap. Being four tenths off in qualifying isn't nothing—even if Mercedes made us think otherwise back in 2020.

It’s the whole package that matters here—everything from the driver to how well they nailed the car's aero, right down to Honda's "rocket engine." Even Mercedes is admitting they're running a bit light on power due to the ERS. Honestly, I don't think anyone had that kind of advantage in this era unless Ferrari was cheating with fuel flow.

Mercedes will definitely make a comeback; I'm still giving them a slight edge for the title. Especially if Checo Pérez doesn't pick up the pace soon. Word is MB is bringing a new floor to Imola, and if that works, Max Verstappen is going to feel the heat.

But the competition isn't just sitting around waiting for them. Looking at AT, it seems like Honda still has a little more room to grow with the engine. On the flip side, McLaren didn't exactly shine yesterday like everyone expected. It’s possible MB is aiming for four power units just to stay competitive early on—basically making sure the midfield doesn't eat their points (looking at you, Valtteri Bottas).

Raymond Anderson4 said:He looks like he’s heading into retirement during that intro.
They could have at least given him a bit of a touch-up.

A touch-up? Come on. 🤣

I actually think he looks better now that he’s looking a little weathered. 😍

It adds some character, I guess. Before, he looked almost too polished. It was just a sketch, which felt kind of boring.

Welcome back, Maestro 🙏 🙏 🙏

wiredfalcon2 said:Vettel's being looked at because of Sainz—not because of that Mazepin thing.

Don't kill the vibe. Thanks.

graniteharbor502 said:Nah, it’s really more about that whole mess with Mazepin. lost in the loop.

When I was typing up my post, I was looking at this article;
So, I was digging through this report about the whole Vettel mess and honestly, it’s just more of the same nonsense we deal with every single season. Basically, Vettel got himself flagged for that flag offense, and you can tell the officials are really making a thing out of it now. It’s all a bit much, isn't it? One minute everything is fine, the next you're looking at penalties because of some technicality that feels like it was pulled out of thin air. I mean, look, we all know how these things go. The rules change depending on who’s watching or how much they want to make an example out of someone. It's exhausting. You watch these races thinking you're seeing pure competition, and then some bureaucrat steps in to ruin the flow because of a tiny slip-up. It doesn't even feel like racing anymore sometimes; it feels like following a manual for a toaster. Anyway, whatever. It’s just another day in the circus. Grab your coffee, sit back, and watch them find something else to penalize tomorrow. It's predictable at this point.

Wolff thinks the Mercedes ERS just isn't matching up to Honda's

"We're losing a bit in the engine department—compared to Honda. Our ERS isn't quite where we want it to be," Wolff remarked.

"Honda is a company that takes immense pride in what they do, and I was always confident they'd go all out to deliver an incredible power unit for their final year. They really turned things upside down, threw every resource at it to get the job done right. It’s actually good motivation for us... honestly, I'm happy for them," Wolff added.

Wolff believes the Mercedes engine is trailing behind Honda's performance.

"Honda did a stellar job. They delivered a power unit that's incredibly competitive. Just look at where AlphaTauri is sitting. As athletes, we have to accept this—it's just how things stand right now. We need to give them credit for doing such a great job."

"There's no other way forward except to recover. You can see we're struggling with the ERS, and that's something we absolutely have to fix. It won't be easy, but we'll get back to where we need to be..." Wolff concluded.
https://www.f1-bih.com/wolff-smatra-...i-od-hondinog/

Hamilton and Mercedes are reeling 🙏

That Japanese man absolutely tore them apart

Yeah, you can totally see how much of a massive leap Honda has made just by looking at those AlphaTauri results. Seriously, props to them.

wiredfalcon2 said:Yeah—you can really see how much Honda stepped up their game just by looking at the AlphaTauri results. Seriously impressive...

That's the Japanese man for you

I have access to the Arena, but I don't have SK. Could someone please drop a link to the race stream?

wiredfalcon2 said:Yeah, you can really see the massive leap Honda has made just by looking at how AlphaTauri is performing. Seriously impressive work.

I honestly completely missed that Gasly was starting in 5th, sitting barely a tenth behind Charles Leclerc. Tsunoda looked great yesterday too, though clearly his lack of experience cost him that Q3 spot—he absolutely should have been there.