Bahrain GP Preview: Lewis vs Max reloaded with more in the mix
F1 NewsThursday, 17 March 2022 at 10:59
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen lead Formula 1 into a new era with the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend as the sport seeks to move on from 2021 with a fresh start and plenty of change filled with hope that Ferrari and McLaren will again be race-winning powerhouses.
New-look cars, heavier and with bigger wheels but re-drawn aerodynamics to make overtaking easier, have raised hopes of a general shake-up as part of the most far-reaching overhaul in decades.
Michael Masi, the race director whose decisions left Hamilton feeling robbed of a record eighth title in the Abu Dhabi showdown last December, has gone, while Mohammed Ben Sulayem has replaced Jean Todt as head of the governing FIA.
While last year's F1 title contenders will be renewing their fierce rivalry, the battle looks set to stretch beyond a private duel.
"I think there’s going to be a real mix of pecking order through the year in all likelihood. The development rate is going to be very aggressive," McLaren technical director James Key told reporters in Bahrain
"There’s a chance people will surprise, and people will be a little bit further back than expected in the first races."
Champion Verstappen, 24, will start the season at Sakhir on Sunday with the number one on his Red Bull for the first time.
Hamilton has a hungry teammate in Russell at Mercedes
Hamilton meanwhile has a hungry new teammate in fellow Briton George Russell, arriving from Williams and eager for a first win. Both drivers have already warned the fans not to expect too much, with the Mercedes bouncing on the straights as downforce is gained and lost.
The team, chasing a record-extending ninth successive constructors' title, and Hamilton can never be written off, however. And they did wow everyone with their sidepod-less Mercedes W13 in Bahrain.
"If you think that what you saw at the end of the last year was my best, wait till you see this year," Hamilton said last month before testing in Bahrain.
Red Bull and Verstappen have been pleased with their car's performance while highlighting a growing threat from Ferrari, climbing back into contention after years of under-performing.
The Italian team have not won a race since 2019 or a championship since 2008 but ending at least one of those two droughts no longer looks like a distant dream.
Ferrari the sports greatest name back as race win contenders to end two-year drought
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff spoke ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix for many in hoping Ferrari do step up with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
"As a fan, I love Ferrari. They are the greatest name in F1 and it cannot be that Ferrari is not competing for race victories and titles," said the Austrian.
"Winning championships is something different, many things have to come together to achieve that, but I think for all of us fans of the sport Ferrari needs to be in the mix. We have missed them in the last few years."
Former F1 driver and now pundit, Johnny Herbert weighed in on the season ahead in his Betway column: "It’s exciting. The new rules for 2022 mean that there is the potential for things to be a lot closer at the top.
"We’re still going to have the normal battle between Mercedes and Red Bull, and I would expect those teams to be at the top again, but I know that fans of McLaren believe that Lando Norris has taken a big step forward and we can probably throw Ferrari into the mix as well.
"The good thing with the new rules is that it’s going to be a little bit tougher. The drivers are already saying that they’re having to think a little bit more about it when they’re in the car. That can only be a good thing and hopefully it sets us up for a competitive campaign," added Herbert.
The aim is to have 23 races despite Russian Grand Prix cancellation
This year's calendar, starting with Bahrain and ending in Abu Dhabi, is set for a record 23 races, with Miami debuting in May as a second U.S. round but Russia cancelled as a result of the war in Ukraine and a replacement yet to be confirmed.
Russian driver Nikita Mazepin has had his contract terminated by U.S.-owned Haas, with experienced Dane Kevin Magnussen making a comeback alongside Mick Schumacher.
Thailand's Alex Albon, previously with Red Bull, is at Williams after a year away. Bahrain will be his 29th start in F1.
China is again absent from the calendar but has its first race driver in Alfa Romeo's Guanyu Zhou, the only rookie on the starting grid and teammate to Hamilton's former sidekick Valtteri Bottas.
Three sprint races are scheduled, but with points now extending to the top eight in Saturday's 100km dash.
2022 Bahrain Grand Prix Fact File by Mercedes
- The Bahrain International Circuit is located in the middle of the desert, on what was formerly a camel farm. It features 1,120 palm trees!
- It may be located in a desert, but sand doesn't present much of an issue for the teams and cars in Bahrain, and the track surface cleans up quickly.
- The Bahrain Grand Prix is a twilight race, starting at sunset and finishing in night-time. FP2 and qualifying also take place in the evening, so 495 lighting posts are used to illuminate the track.
- Despite the new F1 weekend format, FP1 and FP3 still take place in daylight in Bahrain, and therefore hold little value in terms of car balance and set-up work for qualifying and the race, which take place at night. However, they can still prove useful for work on test items or understanding the tyres. FP2 is therefore a crucial session for all the teams, as it is the one chance we have to run the car in similar conditions to those experienced in qualifying and the race.
- The focus for the set-up of the car is on tuning it for low and medium-speed corners. This is because the high-speed sections of track are easily taken flat-out. But mechanical grip is crucial out of the slow corners. This is the opposite to the focus areas we have for tracks such as Silverstone, where high-speed corner performance is key.
- We often see higher tyre degradation in Bahrain because it has one of the roughest surfaces of the season and we expect to have more degradation compared to last year, due to the technical changes to the car and the new tyres for the F1 2022 season.
- The trickiest corner on the Bahrain track is Turn 10. It has a long, combined corner entry that tightens and drops away at the apex and is blind over a crest. Drivers have to apply the brakes while also completing the wide corner arc of Turn 9. All these factors mean the front-left tyre goes light and this increases the risk of a lock-up.
- Bahrain is always a punishing track for brakes, with seven braking events and three classified as 'heavy' by our engineers (which means the driver is braking for 0.4 seconds or longer, with 4G or more). As we found during pre-season testing, the Bahrain track has also got bumpier and the cars are not as smooth to drive, so that also makes braking trickier.
- Because of the various changes to the F1 weekend format, this now means there is less time for mechanics to work on the cars and less engineering time, due to the earlier curfew. So, more emphasis is put on hitting the ground running with good preparation and simulation work.
- With more emphasis being on the pre-weekend preparations, this means correlation between the simulation tools and the track is crucial - making sure the simulation appropriately represents the real car. But the gap between the test and the race is much smaller compared to usual, making it tougher to understand the learnings from the test and bring those into the pre-race preparations.
- The new technical regulations with their drastically different floor and diffuser mean we'll see more sparks flying from the underside of the car - which'll look spectacular under the lights in Bahrain!
- Because of the new regulations and vastly different cars for 2022, the performance of the cars through the corners will change, too. For example, we expect the cars to take Turn 4 in Bahrain at 115 km/h in 2022, compared to 135 km/h last year. Similarly, a high-speed corner like Turn 12 will now be taken at 240 km/h, compared to 265 km/h
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