2024 F1 Bahrain GP Thursday analysis by Peter Windsor
Summary
TLDRThe script provides commentary and analysis on the first free practice sessions at the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in FP2 ahead of new Mercedes teammate George Russell, looking relaxed and quick after a difficult end to 2022. Long run analysis shows Red Bull and Max Verstappen very strong over race distances, with Ferrari and McLaren close behind. An in-depth look at telemetry and driving styles examines Verstappen's efficient braking and commitment through turns compared to Lando Norris, allowing superior corner speed despite Norris being on softer tires.
Takeaways
- 😀 Hamilton and Russell finished P1 and P2 in FP2 for Mercedes, looking quick and relaxed
- 👍 Red Bull and Verstappen were fast on long runs with consistent 36s, Mercedes drifting to 37s
- 🚗 Ferrari had good long run pace matching Mercedes, Sainz looking good along with Leclerc
- 🚦 McLaren and Piastri put in impressive times, matching Mercedes' pace on long runs
- 🏎 Aston Martin and Alonso promising on mediums, ahead of McLaren in FP1
- 🔧 Perez struggled more than Verstappen in Red Bull, indicating car may be difficult to handle
- 🌡 Track conditions and wind made FP1 challenging for teams to get reads
- 🚀 Look at telemetry from Leclerc's practice start shows incredible Ferrari acceleration
- 👀 Data comparison shows Verstappen carrying more minimum speed through Turn 10 than Norris
- 💪 Verstappen gets good rotation mid-corner despite being on harder tires
Q & A
How did the Mercedes drivers perform in FP2 in Bahrain?
-Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished P1 and P2 respectively in FP2, posting quick times early in the session on soft tires. However, the drivers cautioned not to read too much into the results at this stage.
Why does the author think Lewis Hamilton will be relaxed and quick this season?
-The author believes the pressure is off Hamilton after the events of Abu Dhabi 2021. Having made the decision to move to Ferrari in 2025, Hamilton can now just focus on driving and enjoying himself without worrying about the championship.
How did Max Verstappen's long run pace compare to the Mercedes drivers' in FP2?
-Verstappen showed very consistent pace in the mid 36s throughout his long run, while the Mercedes drivers started quickly but their times slowly dropped into the 37s later in the run. This suggests Red Bull had a strong long run pace advantage.
Where did Ferrari's race pace seem to stand relative to Mercedes and Red Bull?
-Ferrari started slower than Mercedes but matched or exceeded their pace in the second half of the long run. They were still behind Red Bull's consistency but appeared to have reasonable pace, likely with more to come.
How competitive did McLaren look based on Lando Norris' long run data?
-Norris' long run times matched up very closely to what the Mercedes drivers were doing. This suggests McLaren have closed the gap to the front and are in the mix, backing up teammate Oscar Piastri's quick laps.
What surprised the author about Charles Leclerc's practice start telemetry?
-The author was impressed by the SF90's rapid acceleration, noting the quick times to 200 km/hr despite Leclerc commenting he was lazy releasing the clutch off the line.
What differences did the author notice between Verstappen and Norris's lines through turns 9 and 10?
-Verstappen took a wider line into turn 9 and got the car settled earlier in turn 10, allowing him to stay on the throttle through the exit and carry more speed onto the straight.
Outlines
🏎️ Mercedes leading in FP2 despite not getting ahead of themselves
Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished P1 and P2 in FP2 ahead of the 2024 Bahrain GP, with Hamilton setting quick times and looking relaxed. However, Max Verstappen and some others didn't get representative lap times. The real focus was on long runs, where Red Bull and Verstappen looked strong and consistent.
👀 Red Bull and Ferrari competitive on race simulations and long runs
In the long runs and race simulations, Max Verstappen was very quick and consistent in the Red Bull, regularly doing mid 36s. The Ferraris were a bit slower to start but matched the Mercedes pace later on. Meanwhile, McLaren with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri also had decent long run pace similar to Mercedes.
😌 Aston Martin and Alonso promise to battle midfield
In the midfield battle, Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso looked reasonably competitive, though still behind the top teams on race pace. McLaren seemed to have a gap to make up to Mercedes based on the long runs.
📊 Data provides insight into driving styles and standing starts
The data from standing starts and corners revealed differences in driving styles, with Leclerc aggressively using the Ferrari power, while Verstappen carried more speed through turns by going wider. This highlighted their contrasting approaches.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Bahrain Grand Prix
💡Mercedes
💡Red Bull
💡Ferrari
💡McLaren
💡Aston Martin
💡Cornering
💡Tire compounds
💡Fuel load
💡Telemetry
Highlights
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell one two at the end of first practice for the first Grand Prix of 2024
Max Verstappen didn't really get a lap in, Lando Norris was P20, he didn't get a quick lap in either
Lewis is going to be relaxed, going to be enjoying it, driving beautifully in the new Mercedes
George Russell just behind Lewis, which is exactly how Lewis would like it to needle George a little bit
Max Verstappen looking very good on the long runs with consistent mid 36s he's able to stitch together
Ferrari will be pleased about their long runs, probably feel they haven't got enough performance out of the car yet
McLaren certainly in there as well with Oscar Piastri driving beautifully, very difficult to distinguish between him, Lewis and Max
Red Bull looking very good on the long runs, it'll be interesting to see what will happen when they take fuel out of the car
Sergio Perez perhaps giving an indication that the Red Bull isn't the easiest car to drive at the moment
There's a bit of a gap now between McLaren and Mercedes, which certainly wasn't the case at the end of 2023
Impressive acceleration times in the Ferrari - 0-100 km/h in 2.8 seconds, 0-120 km/h in 3.6 seconds
Interesting to see differences between Max Verstappen's quick lap and Lando Norris' quick lap through turns 9 and 10
Max going through wider, able to get all 4 tires squared to the road when braking, with no load on the car
Max on harder tires yet as quick as Lando in middle of corner 10, shows efficient braking and ability to extend straights with no glitches
Can see benefit of Lando's soft tires in acceleration but highlights Max's skill in setup and commitment to the corner
Transcripts
well as the two Mercedes drivers said ad
nauseum after fp2 in Bahrain we
shouldn't get ahead of ourselves but
nonetheless Lewis Hamilton and George
Russell one two at the end of first
practice for the first Grand Prix of
2024 not bad for Mercedes having said
all of that of course there are
mitigating circumstances Max vapen
didn't really get a lap in Landon Norris
was P20 would you believe he didn't get
a quick lap in either the real emphasis
in that second session was on the long
runs and we'll get on to those in a
millisecond but have been saying in
recent live streams when people have
asked how I thought Lewis would go in
2024 this being a really unusual season
for him because he's already announced
he's going to Ferrari as if he didn't
know in 2025 and he's got to race the
year with with George and with the team
and do the best he possibly can this
season I have said that I thought he
would be super relaxed and probably
quicker and better than ever because all
the pressure's off it All Began of
course at Abu Dhabi 21 possibly the
worst travesty of sporting in Justice
we've seen in a long time that isn't in
any way to detract from Max forens World
Championship it's that specific day what
Lewis Hamilton lost in Abu Dhabi 21 and
I did say after that race that I thought
it was only a matter of time before he'
either retire or go to another team and
here he is going to Ferrari but I think
now that weight of Abu Dhabi is off his
shoulders he's made his decision and of
course now he's only thinking about the
future about that red car in the
meantime he's just enjoying his racing
Win Lose or Draw he's going to be
relaxed he's going to be enjoying it and
it looked that way today driving
beautifully in the new Mercedes very
relaxed very calm brilliant through
turns 9 and 10 as he always has been
ever since he was in F2 around Bahrain
and just great to watch just great to
watch Lewis going quick and then go
quicker still on his second set of soft
tires right at the beginning of fp2 and
for the Mercedes team in general what a
great Filip for them George Russell just
behind Lewis who is exactly how Lewis
would like it to be I'm sure that's
needle George a little bit it'll be
really interesting to see how that pans
out so let's just have a quick look at
how they did finish at the end of fp2
all those times on soft tires right at
the beginning of that evening session
and you can see there there were a lot
of quick Runners who didn't really get
in a lap or had some drama going on
Landon Norris foremost amongst those
down in P20 but he did a really good
long run we'll get onto that in a second
and you can see also that Max B stappen
didn't really get a great lap either
30.8 51 that's half a second away from
Lewis Hamilton but look at that Nico
hulkenberg 3.88 five so something's not
quite right there having said that
pleased to see the H going reasonably
well a lot better than some of their
other Midfield contenders quite a lot of
talk about H struggling but as I thought
with good management there now calm
management both drivers looking pretty
good in the car so that was nice to see
whether that continues or not of course
is another matter so George Russell P2
so Mercedes one two as I say Fernando
Alonzo was quickest on the medium Tire
in fp1 today P3 in the afternoon in the
evening session so good promising day
for Aston Martin and then Carlos SS 30.7
for Ferrari Ferrari looking very good on
full tanks and both drivers looking
reasonably good on the performance runs
as well Oscar piastri 30.7 so McLaren
certainly in there as well Oscar driving
beautifully as I said before again
through nine and 10 it's very difficult
distinguish between him and Lewis and
Max and charl he's looking that good
through there really difficult section
of road niik hulkenberg is say 30.8 very
good for him then L stroll in the Aston
Martin Charlotte clerk didn't get a lap
in either
31113 little bit uh frenetic his driving
today but I'm sure he'll relax going
into the weekend well it isn't actually
it's Friday and then into Saturday isn't
it and Serio peris a 311 same sort of
time as Charlotte cler so we shouldn't
read too much into all of that the real
substance of the day was later in fp2
when they went out again on soft tires
because the ambul dropped quite a lot in
the evening as it does in Bahrain and
the wind had dropped as well quite a a
Gusty wind in fp1 made life quite
difficult difficult for a lot of teams
uh and fp2 we saw some impressive long
run so let's have a look at how that
performance of Mercedes translated into
long runs into the fuel runs and indeed
into race conditions so leis Hamilton
started the
366 and he's in the high 36ers and then
he goes to the low 37s and he's doing
371 374 by the end of the Run George
Russell starts in the high 36s as well
and about the same same sort of pattern
37
375 376 373 so mirroring really what
Lewis is doing with that car max for
stappen in the Red Bull like Lewis
beginning in the mid 36ers but then he
does a 3 365 364 366 and there's no
tendency there towards the 37 look at
that 366 367 39 that's a slow lap he's
getting the tires back again 420 then
another 366 so when the two Mercedes
drivers say after fp2 as they were we
shouldn't get ahead of ourselves and the
Red Bull looks really good on the long
runs that's exactly what they're talking
about those consistent mid 36ers that
Max mappen is able to stitch together in
that car really really impressive
Charlotte clerk let's have a look at
where Ferrari are now because I
suggested after testing that Ferrari
would be focusing on performance runs
trying to get to the front of the grid
trying to be on the pole and then see
how they can perhaps dictate the race
from there so they're doing 372 they're
starting a bit slower even than Mercedes
372 372 then they're down to the mid 36s
and back to the early 37s so by halfway
through the Run two-thirds of the way
through the Run they're actually going
quicker than Mercedes so Ferrari will be
quite pleased about that they probably
feel they haven't got quite enough
performance out of the car yet but uh
Charlotte clerk didn't get into perfect
lap and Carlos SS and I don't have his
runs up there but he was really quick as
well so not a bad day at all for Ferrari
Aston Martin with Fernando Alonzo High
36ers when when the tires are new moving
to 37
and then to Mid 37s at the back end of
the run so behind Mercedes behind
Ferrari but how do they compare with
McLaren let's have a look at Lando
Norris and Oscar piastri uh Lando P20 so
I'm sure not many people were actually
watching what times he was doing with
fuel in the car but High 36 369 368 mid
37s then back to 36s again and very low
37 so on the basis of that you got to
say they're right there with Mercedes
that's very similar to the Mercedes runs
and Oscar piastri backing that up a mid
36 365 to start that's a Max V stappen
type lap 368 he's doing three four four
laps in the 36ers then he does it low 37
2 373s consistent there 372 and then
uniquely switched to mediums right at
the end probably to do the practice
start but he did a 371 on that so yeah
Max looking really good I haven't got
Sergio Perez in there either but he was
a shade well more than a shade slower
than Max
but Red Bull looking very good on the
long runs and of course it'll be
interesting to see tomorrow what will
happen when they do take fuel out of the
car but it all began in a relatively
straightforward way as you would expect
after well after three days of testing
it sounds quite luxurious but in reality
of course those were the only three days
we're going to see all year but in terms
of the old days that's about what they
used to do before every Grand Prix hence
it was no real pattern to what was going
on in fp1 most of the runners ran medium
tires to get the car sorted and then
kept the mediums on you use sets to do
reasonably long runs with fuel in the
car towards you and we'll have a look at
those now but a few of the runners did
run soft tires notably the two McLaren
drivers and the two visa cash app
drivers the quickest of those four was
Daniel Ricardo which is good for his ego
of course a little bit quicker than Yuki
Coda uh and I should point out that
Lando Norris then kept the soft tires on
his car for the long runs McLaren doing
a back toback I guess between the soft
and the medium but let's have a look
then and see what the key Runners did in
those long runs towards the end of fp1
Max V stappen pretty good run there very
typically consistent 376 375 375 so
we're talking about mid 37s for Max but
Sergio perz perhaps giving an indication
that the Red Bull isn't the easiest car
to drive at the moment just got into the
37s in his case 379 so max making it
looked relatively uh calm at Red Bull
but if you're looking at the Perez times
you'd be thinking wow uh the opposition
have caught up George Russell did a lot
of laps and looked pretty good on medium
tires 38-0 38-0 but you can see there
the difference between George and Max
but you got to say at this stage he
looks to have the comfortable Edge over
Sergio Perez Lewis Hamilton didn't do
quite as many laps came in at the end
did one of those runs where he came into
the pits and went out again uh but just
about On a par with with George low 30
uh 379 high high 37s low 38s uh
Charlotte clerk really quick
in the Ferrari I thought looked pretty
edgy as well but very impressive in the
Ferrari it looked as if they they wanted
him to really lean on the tires on the
LA on the first push lap out of the pits
which he did with that 367 very
impressive to see how the tires would
react to that that may be for example
the opening lap of the race and then
he's doing 38-0 back to 377 374 so very
good run by sh cler caros science not
pushing the tires as hard but look at
the times he's doing 378 372 376 375 so
that's right there with Red Bull Max VPP
and at that's what you could have said
at the end of fp1 looking very good and
then the two McLaren doing that back to
back between the medium and the soft
Landon Norris starting off very quickly
as you'd expect 373 on the soft 375 and
then ending up in the 39 so that car
that tire going off pretty
comprehensively quite quickly and Oscar
piastri putting in a lot of laps in the
mid 38s that'll be disappointing for
them because that shows there's a bit of
a gap now between McLaren and Mercedes
which certainly wasn't the case at the
end of
2023 and we didn't really see Fernando
Alonzo he was going quite well Fernando
in the Aston on the medium tire but he
came out late on the medium and he was
actually the quickest of the medium
Runners when you looked at the overall
times from fp1 that's because he did
that time quite late in the session
having got the car reasonably sorted
when everybody else his nearest
opposition on the medium was running uh
long runs by then so shouldn't read too
much into that but the as and taking a
little bit more time to dial in but not
looking too bad at all those are the
overall times you can see there the the
soft tire Runners Daniel Ricardo Lando
Norris Oscar piastra Yuki Coda so it's a
very close battle between those you can
see how close the times are actually
particularly packed there into the
Midfield um bearing in mind of course a
lot of medium Tire Runners one of the
most interesting things I thought was at
the end of the session we take it for
granted that they come around and do
these standing starts but one of the
most interesting things I thought was
the Telemetry you can now get from the
cars as they're doing those standing
starts appropo nothing at all in terms
of comparing one with another but I
thought it' just be interesting to have
a little bit of an insight into what a
current 2024 Grand Prix car is all about
this was uh charl clerk standing start
and after that standing start this is
what charl said that was a very good
start felt a bit lazy when I went on the
power and released the clutch so then I
went away too then I went too
aggressively because I wanted to check
everything was okay so it was a pretty
hard fast acceleration run by Charlotte
clerk so let's have a look at the data
then from that run and see what the
current Ferrari sf24 can actually do off
the line so he pulls up and he's idling
just waiting for the slot to pull away
about 4,000 revs and then when he's
going to make the start takes the revs
up to 9,500 10,000 around there and then
look at those acceleration times that's
kilometers an hour of course not to 10
2.8 not to 12 3.6 not to 200 5.7 eyes
watering at this point and we can see
there also in the gears this top speed
in each gear 112 look how close second
and third are in in terms of ratio there
Ferrari like all teams can select their
own ratios but they kind of locked in
for the year so very CL close ratios
between second third
13541 changing at about uh anything
between 11 and 12 to uh and then 184 in
fourth 204 in fifth and then he's
breaking for the first Corner in sixth
so really impressive along those lines
and again this is not by any means
comparing car with car or Tire with Tire
or fuel load with fuel load but just
taking two bits of data uh from turns 9
and 10 uh from fp1 this morning just to
see what Max mappen is all about to some
extent trying to get a glimpse into how
he drives in a more specific way I've
talked a lot about turn 9 and 10 being a
fabulous part of the Barra racetrack I'd
say that section of road is as good as
anywhere in terms of the Formula 1
Calendar these days in terms of what it
demands from a driver and the reward and
the risk that you can take going in
there and the reward of course is a long
straight after 10 and if you've got a
really good run inevitably that's going
to enable you to get an inside run into
turn 11 if you've got a guy in front of
you and equally if you're on your own it
gives you a nice clean entry exit out of
10 very very important corner on the
circuit with that long straight and
that's the great thing about that
section of road but it's preceded turn
10 this tight uh left-hander it's
preceded by a very fast Kink so
inevitably with the tires going off and
with the camber of the road and breaking
as hard as they are it's very very
difficult to have the car absolutely
free of load as you're breaking
inevitably almost certainly there's
going to be load on the car and the key
there of course is to minimize the
amount of load in the car when you're
breaking hard for turn 10 so it was
interesting with the data we now have on
screen to see the differences between
Max fappen when he was going very
quickly with a light fuel load on medium
tires and Lando Norris who was doing his
quickest lap of the day on soft tires so
going through turn nine which is that
left Kink Max is doing 252 km an hour in
six gear and Lando 251 you wouldn't
expect the soft tire to be giving Lando
any sort of Advantage there really but
as I saw it Max at that point in the
middle of turn n just before they hit
the brakes is probably half a car's
width to the right of Landon Norris and
wer on the track exactly at the same
time but going through the Apex there
Max is much further on the right than
Lando who's kind of taking a traditional
Apex line through nine and as they go
into turn 10 this is the interesting bit
I think as they go into turn 10 they're
both in the mid mid Corner they're about
the same but bear in mind Lando's on
soft tires and actually middle of turn
10 Max is quicker that's his minimum
speed is 78 km an hour Lando Norris's is
75 km an hour and even more
significantly Max is in third gear and
Lando in second gear now you again you
can't compare the two cars directly
because they may well have different
ratios and second and second in the
McLaren may not equal second in the Red
Bull but bearing in mind Max is on the
harder tire and in theory has less grip
I think it's amazing at that point that
he's in third gear and he's just letting
the car settle in third gear and it's
probably because and I we can only
assume because there's no data to show
this and it's impossible even to see it
from the onboards or indeed any of the
camera locations they got but it's
probably because Max is getting a really
efficient braking on the car because
he's going through wider through 9 and
then he's creating this area where he
can get all four tires absolutely
squared to the road when he's breaking
efficiently and he's going in with
virtually no load in the car at all and
he can just focus on extending the
straight a little bit and then extending
the straight coming out with no glitches
whatsoever whereas Lando's going in and
he's just looking to get in as quickly
as he possibly can going right down the
second gear to get the car stopped and
then he's accelerating hard and we can
see the benefit of the soft tire 50 m
away from turn 10 as they're both now
accelerating hard you can see Max no
chance he's on the medium Tire he's
doing 153 in third gear and at the same
point Lando is doing 174 in fourth
that's the advantage you have on the
soft tires but this dat is not not there
to show you the advantage on soft tires
it's to show you how Max even though
he's on the medium tire is actually as
quick as Lando in the middle of the
corner and indeed going into the corner
slightly quicker even though Lando's on
the soft
[Applause]
[Music]
tire
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