Scuderia Ferrari conquers the second row in the Bahrain GP with Charles Leclerc able to take fourth fastest time with a single run in Q3, while Carlos Sainz is eighth after paying the price for a mistake in the decisive lap. Ferrari led the two drivers into the final round of qualifying, showing consistency that indicates the leap in quality the SF21 represents over the disappointing SF1000. Let’s analyze what could happen tomorrow in the race:
Two Ferraris in Q3 with Charles Leclerc fourth and Carlos Sainz eighth. Raise your hand who would not have signed for this result before qualifying for the Bahrain GP. And, instead, in Ferrari there are those who can complain because the Spaniard could have been closer to his teammate and only a mistake in the last run made him slide further back than where he deserved to be.
The Scuderia looks to the future with the idea of who can be aware of having turned the page compared to last year’s bitter disappointments. The SF21 may not be a lightning bolt, but it looks like an honest car that has corrected the many design errors that had made the SF1000 so inadequate for the Prancing Horse.
The Maranello team is still discovering the potential of the cars and has not taken the risk of trying to overcome the Q2 trap with medium tires as Red Bull, Mercedes, AlphaTauri and McLaren attempted.
Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) paid for this choice and remained swallowed up in the group, while the two McLarens of Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris, after realizing they were at risk after the first run, converted to red tires on time, in line with Ferrari’s strategy.
The Ferrari wall did well not to take unnecessary risks, trying to consolidate the positive aspects, without affecting morale with a tactical mistake. The Scuderia must find itself again, before taking advantage of every opportunity.
Of course, tomorrow in the race it is easy to expect that Pierre Gasly, with the surprising AlphaTauri, will benefit from having yellow tires and can extend the first stint to do a race without soft, but at the start Charles Leclerc could try to surprise Bottas who will have less grip with the mediums, although he will be on the dirtiest side of the track.
In reality the Monegasque has said clearly that he does not want to start battles with those who are out of his reach, so it is easy to believe that, unless unforeseeable events, he will build a race to defend the excellent fourth place in qualifying, that would offer Ferrari the status of third force on the grid, immediately hitting the target for this season.
The feeling is that on paper the AlphaTauri and McLaren may have something more than Ferrari: the 065/6 engine confirmed to be a nice step forward compared to the power unit that the FIA limited in 2020, but there is no doubt that they are missing 20-30 more horses to close the gap from the Mercedes power unit that the two MCL35 M papayas will be able to exploit.
Behind the top three there will be a battle on the edge of hundredths of a second: it will be important not to make mistakes to capitalize on a good start to the season and it will be interesting to observe how Carlos Sainz, a true racing “animal”, will be able to attack the two drivers of his former team and to re-enter the group of pursuers.
Ferrari seems slightly better balanced than AlphaTauri and McLaren: the SF21 is no longer an aerodynamic wall like the SF1000 so it can afford slightly more crashed wings with flaps in the hope of making the soft tires last longer, avoiding those harmful overheating of the rear tires suffering from the particularly abrasive asphalt of Sakhir.
The maximum speeds at speed trap say so: Tsunoda was credited with 318.9 km / h, with Gasly capable of 317.8 km / h, while the two McLarens reached 315.6 km / h with Ricciardo and 314, 2 with Norris. The SF21 with the most wing stopped at 312.4 km / h with Charles Leclerc, not far from Poleman Verstappen’s Red Bull with 313.6 km / h.
In short, the game will be played on the duration of the tires and the Cavallino technicians have continued to work to dissipate the heat from the rims with the flow of the brake ducts. It is easy to expect a Ferrari in defense, but we should no longer see it “stripped” on the straight like at Mugello last year.
There is moderate optimism in Maranello, even if they wonder what caused Carlos Sainz’s sudden stop at the end of Q1. It was immediately thought that Carlos could have inadvertently touched the button that turns off the power unit, but the Spaniard’s error seems to be ruled out and we must keep an eye on the vibrations that may have sent the electronics into a tailspin.
Luckily Carlos was good at restarting the engine using the MGU-K option that can be used as a starter on the SF21. This time it went well..
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