A new year, a new F1 season, but this time with some vital changes. The first significant shift is the budget cut for the teams due to the Covid situation (short term) and to adopt the new regulations for 2022. The second change is the reduction of aerodynamic advantages, losing 10-20% of speed compared to last year. Perelli revised the tyres to be thicker to increase durability (and advertise the brand to the public better).
There were a lot of changes to the drivers and teams too. Perez to Redbull, four-time world champion Vettel to Aston Martin(Racing Point), the two-time world champion Spaniard Alonso to Alpine(Renault), Sainz to Ferrari, honey badger Riccardio to McClaren. Three rookies on the F1 scene are Yuki Tsunoda for AlphaTauri, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin to Haas.
The curse of the second seat in RedBull continued; Perez broke down during formation lap. Not a great start for the Mexican. Another formation lap, and the race got cut from 57 to 56 laps.
Lights out and away we go! The first GP of the season … and Mazepin spun out after turn 3. Fun Fact: At this moment, Mazepin had completed more formation laps (2) than an actual lap (not even 1).
The spotlights were all on the fight between seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and the upcoming world champion Max Verstappen. From this race, it was clear that RedBull had massively improved their car from last season. In contrast, Mercedes suffered greatly from the new regulation, bringing the two teams closer now, which is great for neutral fans like my friends and me.
The strategy to win the race required Bottas to hunt down Verstappen … and they managed to mess up the pitstop – again. A 10 seconds pitstop had Bottas cruising at his own pace rather than racing against the Redbull cars.
At lap 53, Verstappen managed to overtake Hamilton in turn 4, but he left the track while manoeuvring. Thus, he had to give the position back to Hamilton. Turn 4 had produced many discussions as it is one of the trickier corners of this track. In the end, Lewis Hamilton won the 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix by 0.7 seconds!
If all races are similar to this one, then we will have an excellent season to watch. I cannot wait for the next race!