By Joe Murphy
The Bahrain Grand Prix kicks off the highly anticipated 2021 Formula 1 season with many questions over the extent of the progress, teams and drivers have made over the winter break. Normally in Australia for the opener, the global pandemic means we start in the desert instead.
A lap distance of 5.412km and a total race distance of 308.238km means there is plenty of opportunity for things to happen. This track is one of the faster circuits on the 2021 calendar with a total of 15 corners. With 3 DRS zones from turns 3, 10 and 15, overtaking is certainly possible, particularly down to the first corner from the start/finish straight. Kimi Raikkonen proved just this when he went from 22nd to claim an astonishing podium (3rd place) back in 2006 around this very circuit.
This is the 17th Grand Prix to take place in Bahrain, with Sebastian Vettel the current holder of both the most pole positions and most race wins, from the venue. These wins were with two different teams, with the German being triumphant with Red Bull back to back in 2012 and 2013, whereas he was more recently successful with Ferrari winning again in consecutive years in 2017 and 2018. Moreover, it is the prancing horses of Ferrari who are technically the most successful team around this track, although you shouldn’t expect the Italian outfit to be challenging for the race win on this occasion. Furthermore, the layout of the track has evolved over the years, with small modifications to the middle sector specifically, meaning the race lap record of 1: 31: 447 by Pedro de la Rossa from McLaren in 2005, isn’t truly comparable.
You can expect most teams to opt for a two stop strategy here. The speed limit heading to the pits of 80kmh and the simple turn off means not too much time is lost when stopping. The pit exit coming out parallel to the end of the first main straight, should see some exciting close releases and battles into Turn 1. Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll can tell you all about the dangers of crashing into each other here, after their collision back in 2017.
As key as qualifying is, nothing can be for certain. With 10 out of the 16 previous races being won from cars who started on the front row, there is a chance for anyone to make some serious gains. Six of those ten wins came from pole, but there is a genuine realistic chance that any of the top 3 could lead after the first lap.
It is sure to be an exciting race with lots of drama and, although it may be only the first race, we could still get an indication of where exactly some of these drivers and teams stand ahead of the rest of the season. In predicting the outcome of this weekend’s Qualifying session, you would be slightly mad to look beyond the usual Hamilton – Bottas – Verstappen that seemed to almost be a monotonous and ominous occurrence last year. However, with Perez seemingly much more capable of giving Max a run for his money and the McLaren’s both looking good throughout pre season and practice sessions so far, it would not be too inconceivable to see some other faces join the party. I will go for Max Verstappen to take pole, with Lewis Hamilton falling just short of the Dutchman, although this will give fans a mouth-watering prospect of a first lap. In predicting the second row, an interesting option would be Valtteri Bottas in third ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in 4th. You can expect Sergio Perez to be next, and line up alongside either Charles Leclerc or Lando Norris. The predictions for the complete top 10, can be seen below:
Verstappen
Hamilton
Bottas
Ricciardo
Perez
Norris
Leclerc
Vettel
Stroll
Sainz
Reverting back to on-the-hour start times, you can watch the race in all it’s glory from 4pm GMT on Sunday 28th March. Qualifying is scheduled for 3pm on Saturday (27th March) afternoon live on Sky Sports F1 with highlights available later in the night on domestic television in the form of Channel 4.
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