If the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix was any indicator of things to come, we are in for a treat in the form of an enthralling Formula 1 season.
Being the final year before the major aero regulations kick-in in 2022, the 2021 season was always going to be interesting, and F1 delivered a thriller of a race in Bahrain. On Sunday, we were given a first look at the long-awaited battle between Mercedes and Red Bull, and more specifically, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
So without further ado, here are five takeaways from the season opener:
Mercedes and Red Bull: The fight is on
For the first time since the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era, Mercedes seem to be facing a real challenge (one that may not fizzle out midseason as was the case with Ferrari in 2017 and 2018).
Verstappen showed his intent by topping all three practice sessions, and beating Hamilton to pole by 0.388 seconds on a day where the seven-time world champion admitted that he had no answer to the Dutchman’s pace.
That set the stage for an epic race-long battle between these two aces and their respective teams. Both teams played the strategy game, with the race being a nail-biter as Verstappen hunted Hamilton down relentlessly in its latter part, only to come up just short.
Although he passed Hamilton on lap 53, Verstappen had to cede his position for exceeding the track limits while overtaking and after that was unable to pass and claim the win.
Regardless of the final result, we witnessed two talented drivers at their best, fighting ferociously for the win, and delivering edge-of-your-seat stuff. That is something to look forward to over the course of the season.
Mercedes is still a winning machine
Despite their uncharacteristic form in pre-season testing, Mercedes did their homework and showed up to the season opener ready to fight. Although the W12 was clearly no match to the RB16B on one-lap pace as evident from qualifying, it seemed to be a match over the whole race distance (in the hands of Hamilton at least).
But Mercedes showed the trailblazer-of-a-team they are. Despite their performance disadvantage, they planned and executed a race strategy meticulously. A combination of risk-taking by the team strategists (early pit stop) and perfect execution from Hamilton handed them victory on a day when they shouldn’t have won. That’s the mark of a championship team.
To say the least, Red Bull were at a disadvantage, with Sergio Perez in the sister RB16B qualifying too far behind to be a factor in the strategy. That, however, doesn’t take any credit away from Mercedes and Hamilton who deserve the plaudits on the day.
As a final note on this subject, Lewis is known to play the long game flawlessly and Max should keep this in mind while fighting him. Over a long season such as this year’s, every point counts and neither team can afford to drop the ball even once. Red Bull may come to regret that they let this one go.
What of Ferrari?
After their dismal 2020 season, Ferrari had only one way to go: Forward.
Despite the Maranello squad making a lot of noise about the progress they made with their SF21, their performance somehow remains a mystery, specially that no miracles can be expected with the limitation in aero development for this year and the very low starting point they had with their 2020 power unit.
Featuring one of the best driver pairings on the grid with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, they qualified well, but that cannot be a proper gauge of where they stand because we are used to Leclerc flattering his prancing horse and placing it where is doesn’t deserve to be. Sainz, although impressive on his debut with the team, still needs time to find his feet and become a proper measure of the car’s performance.
Their power unit showed some glimpses of hope, with the Scuderia’s drivers not being embarrassingly eaten up on the straights so easily. That may be down to Ferrari having less downforce than the top teams, but regardless their 2021 power unit is not “as bad” than its predecessor (we can’t say “better” can we now?)
It remains to be seen how they develop and perform over the season and whether they will be able to fight an on-form McLaren for third in the constructors’ championship.
However, a team of Ferrari’s stature and resources has no business languishing in the midfield. They should get their act together very soon and stop frustrating the Tifosi and most importantly not ruin the careers of their two promising drivers. Anything less than fighting for wins is unacceptable.
Did Fernando Alonso come back with the right team?
Everyone was anticipating the return of two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to F1 this year. Nando did not disappoint with his performance. From pre-season testing he was on it and driving as if he never left F1. In the race, he was as feisty as ever, but sadly fighting in the wrong part of the grid until he was put-out of his misery when the his A521 broke down.
But the question is: Is he driving for the right team? And the answer is a big “NO”. Alonso is in it to win and maybe add a third championship to his resume. His talent and performance justify it.
But at the age of 39, does he have enough time to wait on Alpine to deliver the right car he needs to win? That’s the big doubt.
The Enstone based team failed to win under the Renault name since 2016 and Cyril Abiteboul may have paid the price for that. Changing the name to Alpine doesn’t warrant a change in fortunes.
If things don’t improve, how long will it be before Alonso becomes restless and things turn sour within the team? That happened before with Ferrari and McLaren.
Fernando should have returned to F1 with either one of two teams: Mercedes or Red Bull. Full stop.
The curious case of Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel moved to Aston Martin for 2021 on the back of his disastrous final season with Ferrari. His final few years with the team where marred with driver errors and below par performances (as per his own admission). This is be partially to the pressure, blame culture, and toxic environment within the Scuderia, but Vettel also shoulders part of the blame.
The likable German is now looking to reboot his career and reputation within a new environment but his first steps towards that were far from ideal if not disastrous. Aston Martin have disappointed so far during their debut season, while Vettel had his testing time truncated due to reliability issues. So both came into the first race massively unprepared.
Vettel qualified P18 on his first qualifying session with his new team. That was partially due to him not being acclimatized with his new ride and partially due to the yellow flags caused by Nikita Mazepin in Q1. On top of that he received a grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags and started from the back of grid and had three penalty points added to his license.
On race day, he started well and made six positions on the first lap. He was put on a one stop strategy and during the race had some nice tussles with Alonso. It was all clean racing up to that point and one would have hoped that maybe Sebastian might have turned a corner.
Then he goes and rams Esteban Ocon in the back and blames him for it (which earned him an extra two penalty points). What was he thinking? Why did he tuck his car behind Ocon’s? A driver of his experience should know that he would end up losing downforce and locking up his wheels.
I still don’t believe that Vettel has forgotten how to drive. You just don’t do that. I feel it is all in his head and he should sort himself out.
It’s now up to Aston Martin to embrace Seb, support him, and provide him with a blame free environment hoping that he regains his mojo. It’s a win-win for both of them. He reignites his career, and the team gains a valuable asset in the form of an experienced, on form quadruple champion able to develop and push Aston Martin towards success.
We all want the old Vettel back. It’s now up to him to show up to the party.