Did Mercedes win the Bahrain GP or did Red Bull lose it? | Bahrain GP Debrief
Over the last year or so we’ve been treated to some absolutely incredible races. Last season’s opener, the mayhem at Monza and the chaos on the outer loop, but the race we witnessed at the weekend may have just topped the lot. Somehow Lewis Hamilton held off Max Verstappen to take the unlikely victory of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Mercedes may have come out on top again but it looks as if we may finally get the dual for the championship that we’ve been waiting for! So in our Bahrain Grand Prix debrief we are going to recap the stellar season opener in Sakhir and look at whether Red Bull could rue this missed opportunity.
The race
The Bahrain Grand Prix gave us a snippet of what could be a thrilling Formula 1 season. It looked for all the world as if Max Verstappen would claim the first season opening win for Red Bull since 2013. He topped FP1, FP2 , FP3 and then stormed to qualifying pole and for the first time in a long time it looked as if Mercedes were second best. The Silver Arrows showed plenty of fight but they just weren’t as quick. And when Verstappen got away cleanly after a chaotic start to the race which saw Nikita Mazepin retire after just three turns, it was certainly Red Bull’s to lose.
A crucial moment came early in the race. Hamilton pitted early with the undercut their strategy and instead of covering it off immediately or a lap later, Red Bull played the long game, leaving Verstappen out for another 11 laps. This meant, with another set of pit stops still to use, he would have fresher tyres at the end of the race, with a car which seemed to have the speed to beat Mercedes.
It set up a grand stand finish and with five laps to go he was in touching distance and with four to go he went around Hamilton at turn four! However, crucially he went off the track and gained an advantage, the Dutchman wasn’t happy but he gave Hamilton back the lead who held on for a stunning win. To rub salt in the wound, Bottas then went and took the fastest lap bonus point.
Red Bull's loss or Mercedes' win?
The result doesn’t make Red Bull’s weekend a bad one but there is a sense of what if and a missed opportunity. In football when there’s a draw it’s either seen as either one point gained, or two points lost, and this certainly feels as if this is a race lost by Red Bull rather than a race won by Mercedes. To be so dominant all weekend to eventually fall so short it just feels like a damp squib. There will be question marks over the track limits at turn 4, but for me there are question marks looming over Red Bull’s decision-making.
Leaving Max Verstappen out for so much longer than Hamilton, rather than cutting him off. They clearly had the quicker car so maybe they just complicated it a little bit more than they needed to. And then there’s Verstappen’s decision to overtake. I’ve mentioned it so many times already but he had the pace on the Mercedes, he had more grip did he needed to make the move when he did. Could he have bided his time for another lap or two and then made the move?
And then there’s the whole Red Bull second driver conundrum, despite signing Perez who had a solid race in Sakhir, he qualified 11th, albeit starting from the pits, he was never able to challenge, much like those second drivers before him. This meant Mercedes had the numerical advantage, and were able to run pretty much whatever strategy they wanted. Even if Verstappen drove a near perfect race there’s alway that hurdle to overcome.
Super Hamilton
Now let's not play down Lewis Hamilton’s involvement. There’s probably only one man on the grid who could’ve held off Verstappen, and that was Hamilton, that’s why they pay him the big bucks, Verstappen has said it himself in the past, and that’s why he’s a seven time World Champion.
Mercedes will go away beaming, it is a great result for them and they can surely only get better which means come the next race at Imola, Red Bull might be playing catch up again. We’ve seen the progress the Silver Arrows have made since testing, they’ve got more to show for sure. And if they do have more development, Red Bull will be left ruing this missed opportunity.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that this is set up to be a brilliant battle for the title!
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