2024 F1 Bahrain GP Thursday analysis by Peter Windsor

Summary

The 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

00:00

🏎️ 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.

05:01

👀 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.

10:01

😌 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.

15:02

📊 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.

Keywords

💡Bahrain Grand Prix

The Bahrain Grand Prix is the first race of the 2024 Formula 1 season. The video analyzes practice times and race simulations from this event to assess the potential performance of drivers and teams for the upcoming season. The track conditions, tire choices, and fuel loads impact the representative nature of practice times.

💡Mercedes

Mercedes is a Formula 1 racing team. Drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished 1st and 2nd in the second Bahrain practice session, showing strong single-lap pace. However, their long run times were closer to Ferrari's than Red Bull's, indicating they may lack race pace.

💡Red Bull

The Red Bull Formula 1 team, with drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, excelled in race simulations. Verstappen strung together consistent mid-36 second lap times, faster than Mercedes' long run pace.

💡Ferrari

The Ferrari Formula 1 team, with drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, demonstrated quick short run performance and solid long run pace. By the end of the race simulations, Ferrari matched or exceeded Mercedes' times.

💡McLaren

The McLaren Formula 1 team, with drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, showed promise. Norris laid down an impressive long run while Piastri posted lap times comparable to Verstappen. This indicates McLaren may challenge Mercedes and Ferrari.

💡Aston Martin

The Aston Martin Formula 1 team, with drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, exceeded expectations. Alonso topped medium-tire runners in FP1 and the team's long runs kept pace with Mercedes and beat McLaren's.

💡Cornering

The video analyzes how drivers take corners, like turns 9 and 10 in Bahrain. Their techniques, gear selection, and minimum speeds through the corner reveal car performance and driver skill.

💡Tire compounds

Formula 1 cars use soft, medium, and hard tire compounds provided by Pirelli. The softer tires offer more grip but wear out faster. Teams run different compounds and fuel loads during testing to evaluate car capabilities.

💡Fuel load

Teams add heavy fuel loads during testing race simulations to replicate full race distances. This obscures true one-lap performance. Comparing stints on low vs. high fuel between teams gives indications of relative race pace.

💡Telemetry

Telemetry provides real-time data on the performance of the Formula 1 cars. The video examines Charles Leclerc's standing start telemetry to showcase the SF24 car's acceleration capabilities.

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