Perhaps the poor image of Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG F1 was the one that stood out most in the inevitable direct comparison that was established with the success of the Red Bull in Bahrain, however, this weekend both teams did not come out as the only ones. defeated Sakhir Circuit. This is why the performance of Aston Martin also brought out the colors of the teams, which in 2022 fought for the fourth and fifth in the manufacturer’s world championship, two marks that were far from the expected results.
Both McLaren and Alpini also took a step further from them to once again fight for Grand Prix victories. In the case of McLaren, the situation has already been hinted at by the tests, and even his perspective seems more complicated than the unfortunate Alpini, who go through the first race of the season at least scoring points. More than one Woking fan was sure to be hurt when pictures of Lando Norris were circulating behind that group of Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton. He does not fight for real, but he was already being licked by that group of drivers who were in the stations behind the Red Bulls.
This same one, Oscar Piastri already had to say goodbye to the race due to an electrical problem (the solution of changing the steering wheel did not work, since the problem was not in that connection, but “downstream” in the steering column) that he missed. to see more of the Australian driver who was “hitting” close to finishing in the points in the Grand Prix.
In Lando’s case, it was also stability issues that prevented him from finishing the race after a tire blowout left him virtually gearless. In his condition, the team said he had to stop for ten laps to recharge the system, otherwise he would not be able to continue. The whole cannon. It was said before the race that, for some teams, this Bahrain GP will be the fourth day of the pre-existing test, but certainly, McLaren seems to have “winter” passed, it also promises. long.
It was such a point of frustration that Norris didn’t even want to talk about the expensive bitumen tests and to them as a kind of ‘exercise in the pits’ when they were up to six stops that he was doing to finally hit. to set out on the definitive path of abandonment with two laps. Not only did the MCL60 not enter the fight with the big ones, but its drop in performance and consistency did not come very well, since the competition department is increasingly varied between Indy, Formula E and Extreme E and with the jump in performance data. on the other ‘the British team’.
Norris wanted to show his best side by talking about the great pace he had at the start of the race with McLaren, but now Formula 1 has shown that it is even more relevant to control the degradation: “I think the pace is also good today. We could have scored at least a point today. It’s a shame we had problems”.
Peter Gasly, the only positive points of the Alpine;
They arrived in the Alps, at least in the place that Lando was talking about, but seeing how the driver who had voluntarily stepped out onto the podium with the Aston Martin was clearly bitter to them from Enstone. Pierre Gasly finished in the points, but Esteban Ocon’s desertion was one of the things that hurt.
A total of 41 licks on Sakhir, although he could not make a clean pocket at all after he had a touch at the start of Lando Norris. The Frenchman’s error had also come earlier, placing his car a little too early in the grid box and therefore receiving the first penalties of his season. Another was afterwards added, that it did not comply well with the reason by which such sanctions are to be collected. The third was missing, this result due to exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane. “Complete combo”.
In that case, Gasly’s situation in ninth place seems to have been enough to console his structure to repeat more final points for the rest of the year, something that is certainly influenced by the appearance of the circuit and if more limited. from behind or from the front After starting last, after being cut off on the last lap, the former AlphaTauri player did not have the best of his starts.
Photos | McLaren and Alpine
