F1 | Race pace analysis in Bahrain: Verstappen is not dominant, Mercedes and Ferrari are there!

After the winter break we are finally back on track for the first Grand Prix of the season. In Bahrain the 2024 World Cup begins formula 1, all on the hunt for MaxVerstappen, three-time world champion, who has a single-seater in his hands, the RB20, who wants to confirm last year's amazing performances, but the pursuers have certainly not been idle in recent months, and we saw this in the first race pace simulation of the season. We are therefore back with our usual Friday column, even if this weekend (and next weekend too) everything is brought forward by a day for Ramadan, and therefore for two appointments it will be our Thursday column.

Bahrain GP free practice, the fastest times

Lewis Hamilton he was the fastest rider of the day with a time of 1: 30.374, trailing his teammate by two tenths George Russell. La W15 it seems very at the limit with the set-up, it travels very low and the bottom is incandescent especially seen on the Mercedes of the young Englishman makes it clear that in Brackley they are really looking for a performance that can overturn the last two negative seasons. Difficulties for Verstappen, sixth, and Leclerc, ninth and never really able to complete a fast lap at the time he actually needed it, while Sainz he took home the fourth place. Also Norris with the McLaren, like Charles, he failed to put together a clean lap.

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in free practice in Bahrain

La Pirelli brought the three hardest compounds for the Bahrain Grand Prix, i.e. C1, C2 and C3, respectively hard/white, medium/yellow and soft/red. In the long runs that we followed, more or less in the last twenty minutes of the second free practice session, they all simulated the first part of the race, which will see the drivers engaged with the higher performing C3 compound, but which will inevitably last less, and so like last year, we will most likely move directly to the hard ones, skipping the work with the yellow tyre, which as also stated by Mario Island, Pirelli's motorsport director, has a range of action of different interpretation and probably not suited to the characteristics of the Bahrain circuit as far as a Grand Prix is ​​concerned.

Bahrain Grand Prix, times in the race simulation

On the race pace simulation, Verstappen he seems to be generally the fastest, but it is notable that he is not in any way as dominant as last season. Clearly it's only free practice, but it would be a relief for the formula 1 have a real brawl on the track, also because the times of the others are very in line with those of the Red Bull, albeit a bit slower overall, but nothing so overwhelming. It should be noted that all the pilots, except for Perez, managed the first laps to have a constant pace throughout the stint, while the Mexican pushed hard at the start and then gradually lost. Clearly don't pay too much attention to the cool down laps (indicated in the table with italics, ed.), they are things that we will never be able to see in the race, at least not with this frequency.

Race simulation analysis in the Bahrain Grand Prix

Ferrari, Mercedes e McLaren they have therefore shown that they have an excellent race pace overall, and will not make life easy for the three-time world champion, who complained throughout the day about gearbox problems and did not have the desired reaction when changing gear , neither climbing nor progressing. Evidently there is work to be done in this sense, but perhaps there is also an awareness that the Red Bull RB20 is no longer as dominant as last year. It is perhaps a hope rather than a factual thing, but not because we don't want the Anglo/Austrian team to win, but because we don't want to see a world championship as closed as the one in 2023, Formula 1 and its fans deserve much more.