F1 cars start their season in Bahrain

New cars, new rivalries. Will Ferrari join the fight against Verstappen and Hamilton? The questions surrounding Formula 1 will begin to be answered at the first Grand Prix of the season, in Bahrain, from Friday to Sunday.

“It's a new era for our sport and anything can happen”, sums up reigning champion Max Verstappen. “Everything is so new that there are many questions before the first race of the season,” he says.

Indeed, the new technical regulation, which has completely changed the aerodynamics of single-seaters, should reduce the differences in performance between the teams.

Despite this, the main protagonists are expected to be those of 2021: the 24-year-old Dutchman from Red Bull, winner with suspense and controversy, and the 37-year-old British Mercedes, who continues to search for the record of eight world titles.

Ferrari is also expected to return, who wants to take advantage of the opportunity given by the changes to rediscover success, after two seasons in white.

Having already seen the preseason training on the Bahrain circuit, 'Scuderia' seems to have the necessary means in this first round of 23 on the calendar (a record).

- “Ferrari looks faster” -

This is announced by Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen. “They are fast, you can see clearly, both in the long and short runs,” said the Dutchman last week. “Ferrari seems to be the fastest and maybe Red Bull, then there's us or McLaren, I don't know,” said the Briton.

Hamilton also warns: “At the moment I don't think we can fight for victory, but the car has the potential to get there” in the future.

Realistic? Pessimistic? A strategy? “It's typical for Mercedes to praise the others before crushing the competition in the first race,” said Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari), before implying that GPS data showed that the German team keeps an ace up its sleeve.

Last year, Hamilton won Bahrain, having been dominated by Red Bull throughout the preseason, and before battling for the title until the last Grand Prix. But this time, the seven-time world champion, assures that the situation is different on the first appointment on the calendar.

Verstappen shows his ambitions among euphemisms, knowing his winning temperament with a knife between his teeth. “The car looks good and the team is in a good position,” he says. “The most important thing for us in Bahrain is to have a stable weekend, without too many problems, and we hope to score a good number of points.”

- Vettel positive for covid-19, Ricciardo back -

For McLaren (who recovers Australian Daniel Ricciardo, cured of Covid-19), Aston Martin (without German Sebastian Vettel, positive and replaced by fellow countryman Niko Hülkenberg), Alpine, AlphaTauri, Haas, Williams and Alfa Romeo, the positions are not assured either.

The qualifying session at dusk on Saturday (6:00pm local, 15:00 GMT) will give the first clues. The race, at the same time on Sunday, will confirm the suspicions.

The GP will also be an opportunity to verify whether the regulation change keeps its promises and allows the single-seaters to follow each other closer, and the riders to attack more easily.

Friday's free practice could be disturbed by the strong winds that have blown over the island since Wednesday.

Off the track, as every year since the 2011 Shia revolution in Bahrain, several NGOs and European parliamentarians speak out against the violation of human rights in the kingdom and call for the release of political prisoners, one of whom, has written to Hamilton to thank him for his support.

In the light of the sports sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, the inaction of the championship organizers for the military campaign in Yemen in several Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain) hosting Formula 1 Grand Prix is also denounced.

pel/hdy/ll/gf/dam/dr