Grand Prix 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

So its thats time again, the offseason is almost over as this time next week, we will be a few hours from Bahrain qualifying where all the guessing stops & we know the pecking order. although we have had some rescheduling before we had even started because Australia has been moved to the end of the season instead of the start & test got moved 2 weeks later. but i believe this years season opener unlike 2020 will go ahead as scheduled, not have a dramatic press conference 3 hours before FP1 was due to take place & austria will go back to being 9th round not the season opener

but hopefully we have got a great season to look forward to firstly we have the longest F1 season in its history, 23 races which is massive. jackie stewart on winning world championship in 1969 & 1971 were collectively only 22 races. shows how far F1 has expanded. in those 23 race we will be going to imola & portimao getting a 2nd chance after stepping in so well during the pandemic last season. finally get to have our 1st look at zandvoort albeit 16 months later than we thought, but vietnam is the casualty of the pandemic, because that has been binned & weirdly the only evidence of the it will be in F1 2020 video game & go to saudi arabia for the 1st new race not designed by herman tilke since 1995 argentine GP . also after an enforced sabbatical in 2020 we will finally get back to Monaco, Baku, Canada, unfortunately france, Singapore, Japan, USA, Brazil, Mexico & Australia in 2021

maybe just maybe. we could have our 1st interteam title battle since 2012, which is ridiclous to think that F1 has gone 9yrs, you cant imagine hypothetically going into jerez 1997. as the 1st title battle since prost senna 1989. it seems massive gap but that what we have currently have & as great as lewis hamilton as been, just like Schumacher or Vettel domination its not great for the sport as a whole. but maybe we have got season long fight between red bull & mercedes, likely the young pretender v the old expert. that we have been hoping for ever since max won the spanish gp in 2016. (but young pretender might be stretching it as Max would be 6 weeks older than vettel was next sunday, when he won his 1st world title in 2010 & in abu dhabi if he won, would be only 3 weeks younger than alonso in 2005) but besides that we have best teammate to verstappen on paper since riccardio & Bottas who if he could string a season together instead of just individual races could have a chance.

down the rest of the grid it doesnt look like there is much change , mclaren still look the best of the rest, Alpha Tauri could have jumped ahead of ferrari looking very good with great pairing of gasly & tsunoda who is highly rated, Aston Martin mayve dropped abit after struggle in testing. Williams look like they are on the way back & Haas the signs dont look good as they had stop developing the 2021 car before testing. as nice as it is to have a schumacher back on the grid, so could be a hard year for Mick Schumacher but it didnt do George Russell any harm. could help him to make his mistakes & learn out of the limelight. which if he was in the midfield with that surname could do more harm than good

on Bahrain, well we all hope that it wont be as eventful as our last trips to circuit 4 months with grosjean accident then heartbreaking bad luck from russell after stunning debut drive then perez rollercoaster ride from retiring from 3rd on the penultimate lap to 7 days later getting taken out then getting back to the pits coming through the field to win his maiden victory & that all 20 drivers are safe come the end of the race. the trends bode well because 7 of the 9 winners since 2012 have won the world title after winning in Sakhir & also bar 2008 (crash & 13th) & 2010 (4th). world champion has stood on every sakhir podium. but in aload of pre season uncertainity, i guarantee 1 thing 2021 season opener cant be any worse than 2010 the last time Bahrain started the season. it was such a dull affair that there was talk about a mandatory 2 stop to bring some entertainment:sleeping::sleeping:

but welcome to 2021, hope that you enjoy another year of F1 & the last before the biggest overhaul of F1 regulations since 1998
 
That time was when his inappropriate behaviour was revealed. He shouldn't have been at this race but when your family are key in financing the team a "strong condemnation" will have to suffice.
 
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Wow, great stuff. Hamilton driving the balls off the car and having to make it as wide as possible.

Lots of great take aways today.

Best opener for some considerable time.
 
Johnny Carwash - I think he was lucky not to carry a penalty into Imola...

Vettel gets involved in too many of these sorts of accidents, and always blames his opponent. i really wish that he would have retired (along with Raikonnen) when he was dropped by Ferrari.
 
what a Bahrain GP if that is what 2021 has in store for us. bring it on & i will have another 22 of them thank you very much. that was incredible, you couldnt take your eyes of the last 10 laps
 
Best opener for some considerable time
im struggling to remember when we season opener as good or better than that. i remember really enjoying 1999 but i dont have the confidence as i was 8 at the time. 2009? maybe

Im still trying to work out how Vettel could blame Ocon for their crash.
the problem also is that it isnt the 1st time he's done this

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also huge praise to perez. he had a horror start & to effectively start from the pits then finish 5th only 5 secs off Norris. with some quality overtakes. bodes very well because we are all confident that in same situation the gasly & Albon in that 2nd car. would limp home 11th or 12th
 
F1Brits_90 - both of these things can be true:
  • Alonso is one of the fastest, most consistent, most astute drivers in F1
  • Alonso is a bastard
Since I don't have to work with him I'm prepared to ignore the latter and concentrate on the former. And among world champions he's hardly alone either - it's a long list with Schumacher and Senna probably at the top of it.

For what it's worth I agree with The Artist..... that McLaren have the best lineup and Ocon makes Alpine's much weaker than it could have been.

The Red Bull tyre choice was interesting, clearly they were caught out by the track conditions and Perez was unlucky to be knocked out when only 0.3 behind Max. I'm prepared to reserve judgement until we see how the Ferraris do starting the race on the red tyre - perhaps Red Bull will be proved right in not taking that option yesterday?
By point of comparison Mercedes, Red Bull and Alpine have similar styles of line up (a star driver and a competent number two).

Within this group, I would rank Mercedes and Red Bull’s line ups to be somewhat equal (Hamilton maybe gives Mercedes a slight edge), but Alpine’s line up is not as good as either Mercedes or Red Bull.

McLaren has two very good drivers but neither is at a level of Hamilton or Verstappen, so it isn’t comparable.
 
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P1 I don't disagree on Hamilton and Verstappen being a cut above everyone. Not so sure about Alonso but we'll find out, I suppose.

My feeling is that McLaren have two 9/10 drivers, whereas Merc and Red Bull are operating with one 10 and one 7 each.
 
McLaren has two very good drivers but neither is at a level of Hamilton or Verstappen, so it isn’t comparable.
is anyone at the same level as Hamilton & verstappen as for years now they have been the top 2 for the last 4 years & likely will be 5th
 
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