Bahrain Grand Prix - A Race Full Of Gremlins

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Oscar Piastri comfortably won the Bahrain Grand Prix this evening winning by a clear margin of 15 seconds. After Piastri won the Chinese Grand Prix this is his second win from the first 4 races. Many were calling Norris the favorite for this years Championship drivers title and I do not think he is good enough. You have to be at the top of your game to win the title and he does not come across as someone who is quite there yet and needs to learn how to fight and have the hunger to want to win.

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This evening Lando was given a 5 second penalty for not starting the race from inside his stating box with his front wheels clearly outside. During the race he made so many mistakes when clearly he is driving the fastest car on track. When you compare the two drivers Piastri believes in himself and is comfortable with his abilities. Lando does not have the same type of confidence and why I believe he will struggle against a team driver who rarely makes mistakes.

Gremlins

Mercedes had electrical issues with Russel losing is transponder which records the track position. This information is fed to other cars on track which automatically enables the drag reduction system which basically opens the flap on the rear wing when you are within one second of the car in front if you are in the DRS zone. This hampered cars behind Russel as they now had to judge whether they were close enough and open it manually. At one point Mercedes warned that the entire dash could go blank.

Russel is currently second, but that could be 4th as his DRS system opened in the wrong part of the track when he pushed the communications button. This is not his fault, but this could be a 5 second penalty heading his way.

Red Bull had a pit stop release light malfunction costing Verstappen a good 2.5 seconds as the light remained red instead of turning green. There just seemed to be a lot going on electrical wise this weekend and considering how much the teams spend on car performance maybe they need to double check other things.

Performance

We know McLaren have the fastest car for now with Mercedes a close second followed by Ferrari. Ferrari did better with their strategy today and instead of turning to the hard tyre for the latter stages of the race should have gone to the soft tyre instead. I do see Ferrari coming good at some point once they find the sweet spot because at times this evening the car was the fastest on the track.

Red Bull being so dominant over the last few years has imploded and is now way behind and things are not looking good. We knew Adrian Newey was the reason why the car was so good and since his departure 13 months ago they have most certainly lost their way. Red Bull said they were not a one man team and evidence points to the fact they were Adrian Newey's team. A big mistake letting him go by not offering him a share holding as they would still be number one. You have to ask yourself why teams reach the pinnacle and for whatever reason self destruct.

Next weekend is the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and expect another Piastri master class as he schools Norris on how to win a race.

Posted Using INLEO