Bahrain: post-race analysis 2021

Well, another reasonable but red bet that occurred during a rather exciting bit of F1. Thrilling conclusion to the race, but my bet failed. It was also a very eventful race so I may well end up forgetting bits and pieces.

Drama started before the formation lap ended as Perez’s car decided to stop working. He managed to get it going again but that meant the field  had another formation lap and he had to start from the pit lane.

Off the line the top two held position while Bottas was passed by a very racy Leclerc. Norris managed to get past his team mate.

Mazepin did his thing and spin to end his race before completing a lap, and bringing out a safety car. It was either here or under the virtual safety car that emerged a few laps later (Gasly’s front wing fell off and had to be fetched) that Perez made his first stop for medium tyres.

So far so good for Verstappen. He and Hamilton broke away from Bottas, who had managed to get ahead of Leclerc. Norris, meanwhile, and Ricciardo set about trying to pass the Monegasque (Norris definitely did, not quite sure if Ricciardo managed it).

Hamilton pitted first of the frontrunners and managed to turn a 1.7s deficit around. Verstappen was kept out long enough to lose plenty of time and was 6s or so behind when he emerged. Bottas, however, suffered a 10s delay due to a sticky tyre which effectively took him out of all contention for the race win.

Further down the field Norris’ early stop did him well but his team mate pitted a lap later and ended up behind Leclerc.

There was some great on-track action, a tussle between Sainz, Alonso, and Vettel being especially good (the elder Spaniard, alas, had to retire for reliability reasons).

At the sharp end, Hamilton had his second stop earlier than Verstappen, who had a 9s gap to make up in about 15 laps. He set about doing so and hunting down the Briton. Agonisingly, the Dutchman passed him but did so off-track (narrowly). Verstappen gave the place back but lost a bit of heat in his tyres, lost a bit of time and, ultimately, lost his chance. He was close but not quite close enough. Hamilton held on to win by less than a second but the conclusion to the race was enthralling and neutrals must be hoping it’s a harbinger for the whole season.

Of course, Verstappen failing to win made my bet red, but there we go.

Bottas was half a minute down the road. Even bearing in mind the pit stop, that’s not great. What was great was Norris getting 4^th, a few seconds ahead of Perez, who had a very good recovery. Leclerc was 6^th and Ricciardo 7^th, with Sainz very close behind the Aussie. Good start for McLaren and Ferrari. Tsunoda scored on his debut, but AlphaTauri must be disappointed with just one points finish. Stroll nabbed the final point, a couple of seconds ahead of Raikkonen.

Game on, it seems, for the title fight. Red Bull was faster and made some slight strategy errors, but it was very, very close.

Of the midfield, McLaren, AlphaTauri, and Ferrari seem to be top dogs (Tsunoda was victim to a qualifying failure by the team and Gasly’s front wing loss compromised his whole race). Alpine, Alfa Romeo, and Aston Martin form a second group, with Williams ahead of Haas.

Next up is Italy, in a fortnight. Intrigued to see how that plays out.

Morris Dancer