Bahrain Race results....
A LOT to unpack in this race. I am going to go point by point on the things I saw and I found interesting...
1. Ferrari - looks to have the better engine this year at least it LOOKS that way. Max could not make a pass stick, no matter how hard he tried.
2. DRS - pretty strong but I don't think over powering.
3. It looks like cars cam be behind each other without making the car behind slide all over.
4. BUT - the brakes. Looks like a team or 2 need to work on brake ducts to make sure they are getting enough air and not just Williams. Max was beating his brakes up with his lunged from wayyyyyyyy back in T1.
5. It also looks like, with the cooler tire blankets - the drivers have to drive a bit more cautiously out of the pits. Going to be interesting if they do get rid of the blankets and how much harder it will be to drive on them early.
6. New engines seems to be pretty reliable not withstanding the late fire which brought in some late race fun with pit stops.
7. Mercedes engine needs work - Mercedes powered cars did not do well in general.
8. I really like some of the liveries - Williams is just great but Mercedes looks odd with the silver and bright yellow for Hamilton. I think I liked those black a lot better.
0 could add in more but I will stop there. It was a decent race and we learned some things about the designs and potential whose engines might be better right away. And to that end I have to say - K MAG in the POINTS! Solid race for K Mag - they were stupid for letting him go but I understand they "needed" the money (Haas has recently said the team is secure on funding without Mazepin). If that was the case before - Schumacher would have learned more from K Mag than Mazepin. Schumacher got schooled by K Mag and I hope that K Mag can help him out with setup.
Bottas has a terrible start but things eventually fell his way for a top 6 finish! Russell didn't beat Hamilton and the only time he was ever in front was after a Hamilton pitstop. Bottas finished WELL ahead of Zhou but at least Zhou grabbed the last point.
Ricciardo and Norris had rough race - they have a lot of work to do. Williams are pulling themselves up the grid and that is VERY good to see.
Mercedes were gifted the 2 extra spots to get 3rd and 4th but they have work on the engine and car to do but they kept their noses clean and reaped and rewards late. Russell did well in the race...
Red Bull - engine is strong, brakes need more cooling (and so does Max) but it shows they will not be the next Mercedes and walk away with the championship. Losing both cars late - and according to a rumor - not enough fuel was added (I wonder which engineer(s) is/are going to lose their job(s)). At least the engine (according to rumor) did not blow up - the only bright side. They can't do t his again if they want to be in the hunt at the end of the year. Max needs to keep his head cool - way to early to lose your head and he did it multiple times. Hopefully Horner gets in Max's head and gets him to listen to the engineers.
Ferrari - congrats on having an engine and aero in one package - it has been a long time coming.
