Ignition
Written on March 26th, 2022 by {"login"=>"jcbphc21", "email"=>"f20181005@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"Journal Club", "last_name"=>"BPHC"}Sound the alarms, spread the word - Big Old Red is back.
After the rollercoaster that was the 2021 season, F1 fans thought they’d seen it all. But 2022 is just beginning and has already provided us with twists and turns of its own. While the previous year seemed to be a battle that was solely focused on the two top dogs - Max and Lewis - this season’s power shifts have evened out the playing field.
Going into qualifying, everyone was tensely waiting to determine what would happen. Would Mercedes’ gamble with minimizing the sidepods pay off? Could Red Bull put up a performance worthy of a championship defender? Was McLaren finally ready to go toe to toe with the Silver Arrows and the Bull? But all that anyone could see was the streak of red flying through every corner. It was Ferrari’s day as both Sainz and Leclerc outraced everyone. Verstappen managed to hold Leclerc behind him until the Monacan edged it out in Q3 to take pole. Sainz came third, just behind the defending World Champion. Things were scratchy for Toto and his team, as Lewis finished 5th, right ahead of his former teammate Valtteri Bottas who came 6th. The evening was horrid for George Russell - the new signee for Mercedes - as he struggled to a 9th position on the grid. McLaren’s results were devastating, with Lando at 13th and Ricciardo at 18th. One thing became clear to everyone watching, Ferrari had created a car with a monster of an engine inside it that could accelerate better than any other power unit on the block. Mattia Binotto (Ferrari Team Principal) talked about how their goal was to create a faster and more efficient combustion system that could provide power more instantly - it seemed that they had finally succeeded. This was evident with the results of both Alfa Romeo (6th and 15th) and the ever-elusive Haas (7th and 12th), both of which sported Ferrari engines and managed to hold their own against the other giants. Kevin Magnussen especially came through for Haas, which earned zero points last year.
With Charles on pole, it was time for the main race to begin.
Fast as Lightning - Ferrari
The race began with Charles and Max retaining their positions but Hamilton and Magnussen making it past Perez at T3 in the 1st lap. Russell managed to climb up two positions into 7th, with Bottas going down to 14th. Both Norris and Ricciardo went to the bottom of the grid at 17th and 20th, respectively. It soon became apparent that P1 was only going to belong to either Leclerc or Verstappen. Thus began the fight for the first place that would continue until the 54th lap. During the 17th lap, Verstappen managed to overtake the Ferrari in an extremely aggressive move with DRS - little did he know that he was playing right into Charles’ hands.
After everything, in the post-race interview, Leclerc mentioned that out of the many straights present in the circuit - one is right before T1 and another is after T3. Leclerc allowed Max to use DRS to get ahead of him in the first one only to use his own DRS against Verstappen in the second one. He was even locking his car in 7th gear in the first straight to give Max an easy overtake. The World Champion, on the other hand, was facing problems of his own. Transcripts of the Red Bull team radio suggest that Max began having issues from as far back as the second lap. He complained about the performance of the brakes when rounding corners which only got worse and worse as he progressed into the race. Soon, he began to lose traction on his tires when accelerating the car and on the 24th lap started to lose balance on the car, causing him not to maneuver properly. Coming into the 43rd lap, he could not steer properly as his “steering wheel felt stuck” this problem just compounded up until the 54th lap, where his car lost power and he was forced to retire. Max’s woes were not just ahead of him (Leclerc) and around him (his malfunctioning car) but also behind in the form of the fiesty Spaniard - Carlos Sainz. From start to the 54th lap, he maintained a consistent third position (going to second after Verstappen’s retirement) and constantly breathed down Max’s neck. He defended P3 from Perez and left Leclerc in the most comfortable position to secure his first win in three years in the circuit that had ended in heartbreak for him in 2019.
Struggling to Survive - Mercedes and Red Bull
The race was a whole other story for the Mercedes team. During the preseason, a noted thing that stood out in this year’s silver car was the reduction of the sidepods. Many speculated that this was an engineering decision that was brought on to increase the downforce acting on the car. Lewis and Russell were outmatched from the start, and they couldn’t keep up with the pace that Red Bull and Ferrari had. Mercedes’ plan had backfired, and in removing the sidepods they had created a car that was experiencing huge amounts of both downforce and drag. This caused the car to porpoise on the track (rising and falling oscillating motion of the car due to high downforce) and slow down because of the drag. It didn’t help how their pit stops were the second slowest (right above Haas), with the best Mercedes pit stop being close to the slowest Ferrari one. This eventually killed any competition that the silver cars could give at the top and relegated them to the midfield.
While Max’s car was crumbling beneath him, his teammate - Perez - was trying his best to defend P4 against Mercedes. He managed to take P4 from Lewis in Lap 10 with the help of DRS and retained it - until the final lap. As Sergio was rounding the first corner of the 57th lap, his wheels locked up and the car shut down, sending him into a spin. It was a sad exit for the Mexican as he had done so well to keep the seven-time world champion and Mercedes’ young prodigy behind him. This also proved how insidious problems plagued the RB-18 for both Max and Perez. Red Bull’s double retirement was shocking not only for the fans but also for the team. After the race ended, Christian Horner said that the drivers' problems were “totally out of the blue” and promised to “strip the cars” to find out the problem.
Did Zhou see that? - Haas and Alfa Romeo
While the top grid was fighting for power, things were heating up in the midfield as an unexpected streak of white was cruising into 5th place. Kevin Magnussen was back on the grid and boy, oh boy, could he drive. Giving competition to both the Mercedes on the track, he managed to secure Haas a position that they could only dream of. Mick was not far behind, ending up at P11 (the best position he has held since last year) despite being tapped by Ocon at the start of the race. This is one hell of a breather for Haas, as the team had been consistently struggling for the past two years. With a Ferrari engine and K-Mag under their belt, they finally have a fighting chance in this Championship.
Speaking of Ferrari engines, another team managed to punch above its weight. Alfa Romeo was unsteady with two new drivers, one of whom made his Formula One debut - Zhou Ganyu. At the start, it looked like they were going to fall behind as both Bottas and Zhou fell off pretty hard. Later, Alfa confirmed that they were having clutch issues at the start of the race. Zhou is no stranger to bad starts, his career in F2 is enough evidence of it. However, he possesses the ability to claw back his way into a better position. Both the drivers quickly shifted into high gear, with Bottas driving like a man with something to prove. Zhou had skirmishes with the Williams at the start but managed to overcome them. Bottas secured a P6, and the young debutant could have gotten a P9, but an unfortunate pit stop during the safety car lap put him in P13. But Zhou did what he does best - overtake. He came up all the way to P10 and was only a second behind his childhood idol, Alonso, but sadly couldn’t get past him. Ultimately, it seems as a seasoned driver, Bottas has adjusted well at Alfa and, as a debutant, Zhou shows a lot of promise. It will be exciting to see how these two teams affect the points table in the Championship this time.
The Slow and The Steady - Alpha Tauri and Alpine
Things were going well for Alpha Tauri as Pierre Gasly maintained 8th position and looked to finish high. But chaos erupted as in the 46th lap, his car caught fire and he was forced to retire. Yuki Tsunoda kept up the fight and finished 8th, sandwiched between the two Alpine cars - Ocon (7) and Alonso (9). Both of these teams have managed to stay in the mid-field just like last year and have done an excellent job staying consistent during changing power dynamics.
Below the Surface - Aston Martin, Williams and McLaren
Probably the biggest shock that came from the Bahrain GP was the performance of Zak Brown’s team - McLaren. Orange became the new Haas as Lando and Ricciardo could barely keep up with the rest of the grid. The McLaren was not porpoising which was good, but soon it became clear that the car did not have enough downforce to be adequately maneuvered. The orange team had gotten horrible qualifying positions, which was only made worse in the first half of the race, with Lando having the best position of P17. Norris’ pace, however, showed more promise than his teammate's. But as fate would have it, McLaren completely messed up Lando’s pit strategy. They started him on mediums which eroded quickly due to no downforce, then switched him onto hards - killing his pace. Then they replaced his hards with fresh ones and four laps later pitted him again for softs. Many people noted that the McLaren had cooling issues as well, with the drivers not being able to push the car on straights. It didn’t help that Ricciardo was recovering from COVID just the week before.
Aston and Williams, on the other hand, clearly struggled with their entire package - both the weaker Mercedes engine and a weaker aero design.
As it Stands...
Clearly, the new season has ushered in a fresh new status quo. It has spelled both revival and heartbreak for different teams.
Will McLaren be able to come back in time, or will Zak Brown’s hard work and Lando’s Championship dreams take the sideline?
Will the Merc be able to deal with the drag their car is experiencing? And how will the season that some are touting to being Lewis’ last unfold?
How will Haas and Alfa Romeo’s newfound success fit into the landscape?
Is Red Bull and Ferrari the new rivalry, with Leclerc both outpacing and outsmarting Max this race? Can the Monacan Fox defeat the Flying Dutchman?
Only time will tell!