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Thread: 2022 Bahrain GP: Post Race Analysis

  1. #1
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    2022 Bahrain GP: Post Race Analysis

    The first race of the season always has a different level of excitement. All the predictions and speculations after testing, many questions finally get answered.

    Ferrari have in fact built an incredible car. Aside from a few minor updates, the car is pretty much still the launch spec. The F1-75 looked fast, consistent, and reliable right out of the box and it lived up to expectations and more. Leclerc looked particularly impressive, the battle with Max was clean and fair but very hard and it shows Leclerc is one incredible talent. Give huge credit to Sainz as well. If this was a difficult race weekend for him, he deserves a gold star for pushing through to claim P2. Perhaps what will get overlooked is Ferrari's pitstops. They were the class of the field. That should make any Ferrari fan ecstatic since Ferrari have a history of botching pitstops and strategy. The perfect start for Ferrari.

    Mercedes is definitely faster than they want to make out. Through practice and qualifying the car looked pretty terrible with it's porpoising, and I expected it to be worse in the race with the heavier fuel loads and no DRS (less load on the rear). Perhaps my eyes deceived me, but their problems didn't appear nearly as apparent in the race. In the opening laps and the closing laps, the W13 was a very strong car not that far off the pace of the leaders. That has to give them confidence once they sort out their problems. Also through testing it was suggested that Mercedes were running short gear ratios. This might help explain the absolutely unbelievable launches they got off the start. This could be a huge advantage for them in future races. However their pitstops need work. Lewis Hamilton might be the luckiest human on earth, inheriting another great result at the misfortune of others. But he still drove the car to the best it could do. George Russell... well some things never change. Even after Mercedes saw the Hard tire was trash on Lewis' car, they still put it on George's car. It was a perfect opportunity to try something different. It was the same with Bottas, they wouldn't allow him to go on a different tire strategy than Lewis.

    Haas, can you believe it? They openly did not develop their 2021 car last season and put all of their resources into the 2022 car and it has paid off. Fortunately the Ferrari PU is very very good this year, but their aero and chassis departments did an excellent job. Couldn't be happier for Magnusson. What a dream story for him and such a well deserved P5, even with a few mistakes. Mick Schumacher has to be pretty embarrassed. Not only got out-qualified by Kevin, but got thumped in the race. Clearly the car easily capable of points, and gets beat by a rookie in a worse car. Ouch.

    Alfa Romeo showed pretty quick in testing and it turns out they are pretty quick. Again, the Ferrari PU allowing the car to perform to it's potential. Bottas looks much happier in his new team and despite some tough moments in the race, battled his way up to a P6 finish. However his start was abysmal. Did I say some things never change? I am really happy for Zhou. A lot of people criticized he only got his seat because he brought big Chinese dollars with him, when the truth is he was quite successful in F2. There is nothing to suggest he isn't deserving to be in F1 just yet.

    Alpine did better than expected. Rumors suggested their PU was built for performance over reliability, and it seems to have paid off in one race. Will keep an eye on them over the next 4 or 5 races. Ocon didn't have the greatest race but performed when it counted. Alonso looked quick at times, but a scruffy race for him and we expect more from him.

    AlphaTauri are floating in that area where they could be the 4th best team or the 7th best team. Gasly was doing what he normally does until a power failure ended his race in a burst of flames. Yuki had another great start to his season, lets hope he can build off it.

    Aston Martin are in fact in really bad shape. First car to launch they didn't really make a lot of changes to it through testing. It didn't look particularly fast and it had some reliability issues, and now in competition it's close to the bottom. Big Stroll's money and giant ego doesn't seem to be helping the team at all. Lance did actually have a good race. P12 is a good result for that car, but the team should be fighting for points, and right now they won't be doing that without some really good luck. Hulkenberg had a very good qualifying result, but a dreadful race. It didn't take him long to get stuck in the back of the running cars.

    Williams back to the dull end of the grid, and are probably headed towards finishing dead last by the end of the season already. Such a shame as they had some success last season, but now the Mercedes PU doesn't appear to be so dominant, so their chassis shows to be an even bigger disappointment. It's baffling that a former championship dominating team cannot build a better car. Glad to see Albon back, he looks to be in good spirits so far. Latifi, the Williams' veteran gets beat by his teammate once again. Dude!

    McLaren. They were so bad I forgot about them. Without question the biggest disaster from any team. Let this be a lesson to fans that put too much stock into the first days of testing. The Media labelled McLaren as one of the best teams after day 1 in testing, and it turns out they are one of the worst. I am sure they will improve, but to lift themselves up to the 4th best team where they belong is no easy task. Even though Ricciardo finished ahead of Norris, he still looks to be a good bit behind his teammate. The claim about him not having enough seat time is rubbish IMO. Today's drivers can get on the pace within a handful of laps, so missing some practice time doesn't help but I don't think it's the reason why he got outperformed once again. Could be another tough year for Ricciardo.

    Red Bull couldn't have had a worse result. The car is fast, their is no question, but I got the impression that Red Bull expected to have an easy win. They knew Ferrari were good, but I don't think they expected to be outclassed by them. Adrian Newey is known for designing some incredible cars, but he has also been known to design some fragile cars. A suspension that gets tweaked by dropping it from the jacks is concerning. Of course the double DNF with what appears to be the same issue not only starts them off with 0 points, but already looking at two PU changes. The car will without question be battling for wins, but mechanical failures can be extremely costly during a season.

    Driver of the Day: Charles Leclerc. Easy decision. He was fast, precise, consistent. His battle against Max was amazing and very clever to brake into P1 early to get DRS on the next straight.

    Did the 2022 cars live up to the hype? For the most part I'd say so. The cars definitely seem easier to follow than in previous years, thought maybe not as much as we hoped. Of course this could be down to the tires, so it's still too early to tell. We some good racing so the first thoughts are encouraging.

    Pirelli get a D- for their tires. The rate of degradation of these tires is horrendous. The undercut being worth 3+ seconds is alarming. The guy sitting in P2 can hold all the best cards now. The tires can't be pushed hard without ruining them, so drivers are driving too conservatively. Put a lot of blame on the FIA for introducing these 18 inch tires just so they could look like a hotwheels car and hopefully attract new fans. Having said that, if it means more variety in the strategies, then that's a win. When's the last time we saw a 3 stop strategy?

    A big F for the stewards/FIA. Awful job in policing track limits. Clearly defining the white line as the limit should make this much easier, yet they missed a lot. Blaming systems weren't working right is inexcusable. Also with all the Safety Car controversy and talks to revamp the procedure, and they still screw it up. How on earth did the race go green when half the grid didn't even catch up to the back of the pack?
    Last edited by SS454; 20th March 2022 at 19:39.

  2. #2
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    Mercedes were miles off the pace, lapped cars do not have to catch back up to the pack.
    Forza Ferrari

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greig View Post
    Mercedes were miles off the pace, lapped cars do not have to catch back up to the pack.
    Mercedes going to hards killed them. A car that's 0.5-0.7 slower would have been dropped like a stone right from the start. But they held their own while on soft tires. We're not talking for 2 or 3 laps and then they fall back. The car isn't a winning car by any means, but it has some outright pace.

    And just because lapped cars don't have to according to the rule book, doesn't mean they shouldn't have been let to catch up. The point is the FIA still doesn't have their procedure correct.

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    Procedure does not state they have to catch back up but I guess once you decide its wrong then nothing will change that.

    Merc were nowhere.
    Forza Ferrari

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greig View Post
    Procedure does not state they have to catch back up but I guess once you decide its wrong then nothing will change that.

    Merc were nowhere.
    May they remain there, inshallah!
    Trying to be less angry..

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    I was one of Binotto doubter. I desperately wanted to be wrong. This season he does. Thank God. Thank you , Mattia. to Mattia

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    29 seconds before the safety car bailed them out for the podium.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Greig View Post

    Merc were nowhere.
    That was like another victory, I think race pace was almost 1 sec. slower. Not so easy to fix that.

    edit. My worst nightmare was 2018, was thinking that then when we finally beat Mercs, then comes RB and beats us, but so far so good, but it is tight.
    Last edited by KimiBot; 21st March 2022 at 05:34.

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    What do you think guys, will we be faster then RB in Jeddah as well, or Saudi will suit more RB

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    I have a different opinion for some drivers.
    Russel for example. He got himself in a bad position. He was away behind LH until the safety car. That should be alarming for him.
    Bottas is another example. For some reason, I believe Gio would do better. Bottas was stuck behind slower cars for a LOT of time. He raised to P6, eventually, but IMHO he should be close to the Mercs. That was his race pace in clean air, so not nice for him. Albon proved how fast he is. I believe Sauber did the wrong choice, but this is only based on the history of BOT and only one race. I will wait until Barcelona for my final conclusion on him. The biggest surprise is McLaren. They were extremely slow, something is very wrong over there.

    As for Ferrari. They did everything right this time. They almost got the fastest pitstop (0.01 slower than the best). Strategy wise, I cannot judge yet. To me it looked like the took the decision to keep CL out after the 3rd pitstop from MV and they only pitted because of the VSC. Was it the right decision? We will never know.

    Good vibes. Let's go.

  11. #11
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    • 5 Ferrari PU in top 10; 2 Merc, ; 2 Renault; 1 Honda
    • 3 DNF Honda PU
    • BOT suffered from poor start. He might be challenging Merc otherwise
    • ZHO scoring in his first F1 race; he’s got the mentality
    • After the the DNF’s, all Merc PU’s inhabit the bottom part



    Way to go

  12. #12
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    Charles ignored Binotto and did what he had to against Seb and the other competition coming up with Ferrari. look where he is! Carlos needs to do the same. No more Binotto's " wait for next year! "

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    The perfect result for the team, I think Charles deserved to win this race after what happened in 2019.
    But I'm not getting carried away just yet, because in 2010 Ferrari had a 1-2 in the first race but lost the titles in the end.

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    Though its only the first race, it does feels like Ferrari is back in the hunt for the title.

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    If the fuel pump has got damaged then it is not that big of a deal (except for the fact that they lost points of course). Now, if the gas engine has got damaged then RBL is in huge trouble!

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    Quote Originally Posted by gmpe23 View Post
    If the fuel pump has got damaged then it is not that big of a deal (except for the fact that they lost points of course). Now, if the gas engine has got damaged then RBL is in huge trouble!
    All these cars have a default mode in the electronics which is why Perez car locked up. Once the electronics sense a catastrophic failure, the engine goes into default and shuts down..........to save the engine.

    Max more than likely coasted on the batteries into the garage.

    Gasly more than likely will need a new PU with components and probably a new gearbox.
    It's not how start but how you finish.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brembo View Post
    Charles ignored Binotto and did what he had to against Seb and the other competition coming up with Ferrari. look where he is! Carlos needs to do the same. No more Binotto's " wait for next year! "
    If we want to challenge for both WDC and WCC we want peace between our drivers and maximum points .
    "If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari" - Gilles Villeneuve

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brembo View Post
    Charles ignored Binotto and did what he had to against Seb and the other competition coming up with Ferrari. look where he is! Carlos needs to do the same. No more Binotto's " wait for next year! "
    Not sure I'm understanding you Brembo. So it was Binotto that told Carlos to drive so slowly - did he also tell Carlos not to take pole away from Charles? Or are you referring to when Binotto told Carlos to have the spaghetti for lunch but he should have refused and went for the ravioli?

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Silent Bob View Post
    Not sure I'm understanding you Brembo. So it was Binotto that told Carlos to drive so slowly - did he also tell Carlos not to take pole away from Charles? Or are you referring to when Binotto told Carlos to have the spaghetti for lunch but he should have refused and went for the ravioli?
    Slowly enough no. Fast enough to hold 2nd thus the 1,2! Binotto had nothing to do with it. The pole was up for grabs by either driver. Binotto is just a Ferrari fan when it comes down to making decisions. Carlos i'm sure watched and learned from Charles how he should drive to win as Charles did to Seb. Rubinization never! Spaghetti garlic and oil with hot cherry peppers! With Ruffino Chianti Classico vino!!

  20. #20
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    Isn't a Ferrari like new nose on the RB?
    https://racingnews365.com/red-bull-b...udi-arabian-gp

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gilles View Post
    Isn't a Ferrari like new nose on the RB?
    https://racingnews365.com/red-bull-b...udi-arabian-gp
    It look likely, but customized a bit.

  22. #22
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    Why it looks to me like they just took off the yellow cover ???
    FERRARI FOR EVER !!!!!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by PURE PASSION View Post
    Why it looks to me like they just took off the yellow cover ???
    You're right, i did not watch enough

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Silent Bob View Post
    Not sure I'm understanding you Brembo. So it was Binotto that told Carlos to drive so slowly - did he also tell Carlos not to take pole away from Charles? Or are you referring to when Binotto told Carlos to have the spaghetti for lunch but he should have refused and went for the ravioli?
    You always go with the ravioli man... always!
    Rest in Peace Leza, you were a true warrior...

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