Bahrain was more convincing than Japan and gave us an interesting race. The analysis of the race pace from the top teams confirms that McLaren is still superior, but the others are not standing still. Piastri appeared untouchable for everyone: the average gap in race pace compared to Norris is significant, around 4 tenths per lap. The gap from McLaren to Mercedes and Ferrari is about half a second, while the gap to Red Bull is almost a second per lap.
The Bahrain Grand Prix turned out to be a fertile ground for McLaren, which, thanks to a stable rear end and excellent traction, adapted perfectly to the characteristics of the track.
The safety car disrupted the teams’ plans, especially Ferrari’s, which opted for a strategy different from the other top teams. Unlike their rivals who started with soft tires, Ferrari chose to start with medium tires, aiming for a single stop and then finishing the race with hard tires.
First Stint
At the start, Ferrari’s choice was a disadvantage: the performance boost offered by the soft tires helped everyone else, while the Ferrari drivers struggled.
In the first stint, McLaren confirmed its speed, although Norris was busy making up places after starting in 6th. Mercedes showed extreme consistency, with George Russell being the fastest after Oscar Piastri, while Antonelli couldn’t match his teammate’s pace. Max Verstappen was out of contention from Friday: the RB21 proved difficult to manage, and the team also made mistakes in the pits. Ferrari’s race pace wasn’t impressive: Hamilton struggled, while Leclerc held onto 4th until his pit stop.
The first driver to stop was Norris on lap 10, followed by Russell on lap 13, and Oscar Piastri on lap 14. Charles Leclerc, on medium tires, extended his stint but only stopped three laps after Oscar Piastri, who was on softs.
The race pace of the top teams. Photo: Filippo Pesavento. Source: f1ingenerale
Second Stint: Ferrari the Fastest
The second stint proved crucial. Ferrari mounted a new set of mediums, being the fastest on track, but this forced them to stop again. Max Verstappen, who had switched to hard tires on lap 10, showed weak pace on the harder compound, pushing Ferrari to rethink its strategy and abandon the idea of a single pit stop. With fresher tires, Ferrari showed good pace, climbing up the standings with both drivers. The second stint was encouraging for Lewis Hamilton: the driver managed to recover five positions on track, thanks to a car feel that he described as having changed “overnight” compared to the first stint.
However, a safety car on lap 32 interrupted the stint and overturned the strategy, forcing everyone into another pit stop.
Third Stint
In the final stint, teams opted for different strategies: both McLaren drivers mounted the medium tires, Russell took a risk with softs, while the two Ferraris went for hards. Ferrari’s choice seemed logical: unable to mount the mediums again due to regulations, and fearing soft tire degradation, the hard tire was the only viable option. However, the disadvantage of the tire compound was clear, and Ferrari struggled to maintain pace.
Oscar Piastri remained untouchable, while Russell managed the soft tire perfectly with a fast and consistent race pace. Norris, in 4th, passed Charles Leclerc at the end of the race, with the latter unable to defend against the McLaren on medium tires. After passing Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris tried to challenge George Russell, but the high-downforce setup of the MCL39 hurt him on the straights, forcing him to settle for 3rd.
Max Verstappen, despite a challenging race, still finished ahead of Hamilton, who continues to struggle with finding confidence in his SF-25.
The Safety Car Ruined Ferrari’s Strategy
The gaps at the end of the race were influenced by the safety car, so the gap between McLaren and the others would have definitely been larger. This doesn’t take away from a strong Mercedes and a recovering Ferrari, which had its best weekend so far.
The safety car undoubtedly ruined Ferrari’s strategy: the team could have made better use of the medium tire in the second stint and stretched the stint enough to mount the softs at the end, which would have given them a performance advantage and potentially allowed them to challenge for the podium.
The picture after the fourth race is starting to take shape: McLaren is the best, with Mercedes as the second force. Ferrari is still to be figured out, but reacted well on an unfavorable track. Red Bull remains the big question mark, struggling even with Max Verstappen, as the problems with the RB21 are starting to show more clearly.
Source: f1ingenerale
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