Boring.
F1 and Liberty Media had done so much to build the hype around the ’24 Grand Prix season that it would be hard to match it in reality. In fact, they drummed it up so much that it was almost inevitable that we’d be let down. Even still, the Bahrain GP would have been boring had there been no hype. It was just boring.
The dullness was not just the fact that Max and Red Bull dominated the race, though. Sure, there were a few passes, but they weren’t spectacular.
Perhaps the “highlight” (at least from a “this is not boring” perspective) was the Tsunoda/Ricciardo “battle” on the cool-down lap. That is a sad statement when you consider what a Grand Prix is supposed to be.
Speaking of which, I get that Yuki Tsunoda was angry and frustrated. No race driver should ever be happy when told to let a teammate by, but his whining and actions after the checkered flag seemed more like 4-year-old demanding ice cream instead of veggies. That little temper tantrum did not do him any good within the team.
Red Bull still has the best car, but it does not seem to be quite so dominant as last year’s car. However, it is way too early to tell. The Red Bull’s race pace is better, but based on qualifying results, Ferrari and McLaren are very close (perhaps as good or better over one lap in qualifying), with Mercedes in the mix, as well.
If you look at the theoretical fastest laps from qualifying (based on the best sector times), Leclerc should have been on pole, Verstappen second, Norris would have been third, Perez fourth, Alonso fifth. Verstappen’s theoretical and his actual lap time were nearly identical, but every other driver left a couple of tenths on the table. In other words, Verstappen is the only one who maximized his car’s performance.
Verstappen does have one of the best cars – maybe the best – but he takes advantage of it better than any other driver on the F1 grid right now. Put any other F1 driver in that car, and the results would not be as good as what the Dutchman is delivering. Part of that is pure skill, and part is his confidence that only gets stronger.
Perez had a really good race performance. By my estimation, he got everything he could out of his Red Bull. Sure, not as much as his teammate did, but he did pretty much what he’s capable of. He is a number 2, after all.
It was interesting to see Russell in front of Hamilton for most of the weekend, and in the race. Some will say that Mercedes has already begun to favor the driver who will be racing for them next year, but I find that hard to believe. They want to win so bad that they don’t care who does it. Lewis, George… heck, they’re so desperate to get back to their old winning ways that Toto Wolff would have driven if they thought he could win.
It was the kind of weekend that Russell needed. Starting the year by out-performing Hamilton will do wonders for his confidence, and it will only get better from there (unless he has a series of “bad” things hit, like they did last year).
Leclerc does not manage adversity well. It was obvious that his car had a braking issue, but that doesn’t mean that he should have continued to lock up and make things worse. The job description for a race driver – even F1 drivers – is to drive the car to its limits, no more, no less. If the car’s limits are lessened by some technical issue, the driver’s job is to just drive it to that limit, and not try to drive any faster. I know, it’s easy to armchair quarterback (which seems like a silly analogy to use when talking about racing) and pick away at Leclerc, but he’s made a pattern of these kinds of mistakes.
I was talking with a friend who raced in F3 and F2 against Leclerc, along with George Russell, Lando Norris, Alex Albon, and others who were in it at that time. I asked him who the best driver he ever raced against was, and with no hesitation at all he said, “George Russell. He was always fast, and never made mistakes, unlike Leclerc who was fast but always making little mistakes.” An insider’s perspective.
Carlos Sainz had a great race, and I’m sure he’s going drive like that all year with full intentions of making Ferrari regret their decision to replace him with Hamilton (considering that Hamilton has meant something in the order of 7 billion dollars in value to the prancing horse, Carlos will have to do more than just race well to hear, “Ci dispiace per la nostra decisione”). He’s going to make life difficult for Leclerc this year.
Alonso looked a bit disheartened, and I sure hope he gets back to the same form that he had last year. He’s so brilliant to watch when he’s on, especially when he’s playing the “spoiler” role.
The young McLaren drivers looked good, but not great. I loved Piastri’s move when exiting the pits right in front of (or was it to the side of?) Hamilton. There was not much doubt that the 7-time World Champion was going to come out on top of that mini-battle with his hot tires, but it’s fun to see a young driver go for it. There are drivers who seem to always be “number 2s” in a team, who never show signs of being World Champion material. Oscar Piastri is not one of them. Of course, there are many “number 1” drivers who never won a championship because they were not in the right car at the right time, but if McLaren can give the Aussie (and Lando, for that matter) the right car, he’s more than capable of having the number 1 on his car’s nose. As is Norris.
Wow, do the Alpine cars suck! Both Gasly and Ocon have won Grand Prix races in the past, so they’re both capable enough to run at least in the top half dozen with a decent car. The Alpine is not decent. Far from it. It’s hard to understand just how bad the management of that team is to have inspired a technical step back like they managed in the off-season. And then, after the race, two of their top technical people quit. Is that a matter of abandoning a sinking ship, trying to run away from their mistakes, or what?
Haas, Williams, Aston Martin, and Visa/Red Bull (or whatever they’re called now) all had very mediocre performances all weekend, and look to be solidly aiming for the “we don’t really care about the mid-field” championship. It’s a shame to see Aston Martin drop from a contender at the beginning of 2023 to where they are now.
Last year, I was critical of Guenther Steiner running Haas, and now he’s gone so the team should be running at the front, right? Not so fast. Technical, operational, and especially team cultures don’t change dramatically in a matter of a couple of months. But I do believe the decision to rid the team of Steiner’s management is a step in the right direction. Now, about Kevin Magnussen… sorry, but he’s never going to be a consistent front-runner. He’s barely a number 2.
Well, look at me, doing what the F1 media do: making broad statements and conclusions after just the first race. Silly me! The only prediction that I feel extremely confident about is that things will change.
To sum up, I can’t wait to see the St. Pete Indy car race this coming weekend, and that’s for two really good reasons. The first is that I expect some really fun racing – not a ho-hum event. And the second reason? Something I’ve been waiting twenty years for: Colin Braun getting his first Indy car drive! And he’s driving for “my” old team, Dale Coyne Racing. With only one day of testing in an Indy car, and a team without the engineering support they need, it’s going to be a tough debut. So, I’d appreciate if you sent Colin some positive thoughts during the race. :)
Did I mention that the Bahrain GP was boring?
Appreciate the report Ross as I fell asleep and missed most of it. I usually love the commentary from a super expert team but I'm worried they're dumbing down the technical comments catering to a broad audience. I think I've complained to you about that before.....Leclerc is super human, except when he's not......at the end of the day and in the beginning too I would much rather be Yuki's team mate than Riccarido, of course I don't know either of them, but unfortunately tension in that team right now must be more soul crushing than ever.
Kmag did finish in front of his team mate. And that's what counts.