Bahrain Grand Prix: Red Bull Aim to Take Charge

Compared to last term, the Bahrain Grand Prix will act as the curtain raiser for the 2021 Formula One season.

All-time wins king Lewis Hamilton will commence his journey for the record-breaking eighth world championship, but he will face stiff competition given this season’s playing field.

For the first time in a long while, Mercedes aren’t the huge favourites here in Sakhir after a lacklustre time during preseason testing. 

The Silver Arrows find themselves in a strange position coming into the 2021 season opener, which means that anyone can gain the upper hand.

We here at SBOTOP can’t wait to get the new season started. But before we head on over to Sakhir, here is our latest roundup of Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 updates.

 

Red Bull looking like the favourites 

If there’s one team that looked good during preseason testing, clearly it was Red Bull.

The RB16B car has been meeting expectations as after their fantastic preseason testing, it was followed up by solid performances during the first two practice sessions.

Max Verstappen appeared to be comfortable out on track since he was able to flaunt his new car’s searing pace to outrun the others including Mercedes.

Because of their great outings, pundits already have them as the favourites to win in this race. However, Verstappen and co. would have none of it as they believe that the work is just getting started.

But while Max Verstappen was completing a clean sweep, his teammate in Sergio Perez is still adjusting to his new car since he wasn’t able to get within six-tenths of Verstappen during the last two practice sessions.

Nonetheless, Perez is confident that Red Bull’s improved pace is not a fluke and that he will get up to speed come the qualifiers and the actual race itself.

It can be noted that Perez won in the Sakhir Grand Prix last season, and he will use that as motivation ahead of the race. 

 

Mercedes are in a difficult spot

Mercedes have been looking like mere mortals after an underwhelming week here in Formula One. 

During preseason testing, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton struggled to control the car on the track as the latter had two bad spins while the former failed to maximise their pace. 

And their struggles continued during practice. In fact, It got so bad that Bottas described the W12 as “undriveable” during FP2.

Both Mercedes drivers are coming in Bahrain with strong records. Hamilton was a three-time pole winner here, while Bottas has won every season opener for the last two seasons. 

However, with little time to make drastic adjustments to the W12, team principal Toto Wolff admitted that they will be “satisfied” if they can match Red Bull’s pace tomorrow. 

 

Veterans need to shake off rust

Last Friday’s practice suggests that Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, and Fernando Alonso need more time to get acclimated to their new cars.

Fernando Alonso has been out of Formula One for two years, and rust was clearly evident as he only finished 15th in FP2. 

Similarly, Vettel struggled with his new Aston Martin machine as he had the lowest mileage of any driver during preseason testing and he was unable to finish his second practice session, admitting that he still has “a lot to learn”.

Kimi Raikkonen, on the other hand, lost control of his Alfa Romeo car in FP2 and he crashed at the exit of Turn 2 which wrecked his front wing – eventually ending up at 16th place.

These three drivers aren’t exactly the favourites here in our Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 odds given their subpar sessions, but they’ll lean on to their experience to try and gain points.

 

History

The inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix happened in 2005 where Fernando Alonso won it for Renault. He became the first repeat winner when he won it again in 2006. 

Lewis Hamilton won the said event last season while the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Alex Albon took the other podium spots.

Last year’s race also saw an unfortunate accident as Romain Grosjean’s Haas VF-20 caught fire after a nasty collision and he was hospitalised after having second degree burns. 

 

What are the odds?

Red Bull Racing are the heavy favourites given their strong performances in the practice sessions. They are priced at 1.62 to win and Mercedes are the next team behind them at 2.25.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Max Verstappen should win the season opener since he is pegged at 1.82 while any other driver compared to him are priced at 2.00.

 

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