Formula 1: Journaling Bahrain

Not even in my wildest dreams, I would have imagined such a beautiful clash, ended with the greatest result for Ferrari for over 15 years.

There was so much hopefulness and positivity around Ferrari, which I personally did not experience for a long time. Two years of massive pain, Binotto, taking in 2019 engine penalties and giving fans appointments to 2022. Two years of darkness which I always wondered how possible was for Ferrari to endure. The idea that Binotto, one great engineer, devoted to the success of the likes of Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen, wearing the Team Principal suit was becoming too heavy. But this all changes with the Bahrain GP.

Two years of darkness, eight years of absolute dominance of the silver arrows, with no chance to fight them, ten years of an energy drink producer becoming a better powertrain developer and bringing in more competitiveness than Ferrari. Imagine that I practiced hope, with a greater level of caution.

Bahrain 2022 started last week. Because we lingered in the unknown for months: new rules, new cars. What a shuffle for this competition. Last week’s tests gave fans a general idea of what to expect from this season.

“Ferrari looks absolutely great”. Words out of Red Bull and Mercedes’ paddocks.

The light at the end of the tunnel: Bahrain GP

With a fashioned pragmatic view of things, I mostly agreed that Ferrari came in this past weekend as a major favorite. Friday looked good, you can see Leclerc’s talent using to perfection every single Hp the car can give him, designs impeccable laps, and bring in the element of consistency and resistance that did not distinguished the Monegasque in his past years.

I cried with him when in Monaco, last season, Charles gets Pole, and then the gearbox decides to give up literally 30 seconds before race starts, or in 2019, when exactly in Bahrain, Leclerc snaps the first pole position. to then again suffer engine’s failure. You know that in Leclerc, these episodes left a scar, and the hope was he would not fall again in it.

Teammate Sainz looked lagging a bit on Friday, Saturday was an absolute thriller for the Scuderia, the feeling that finally Ferrari is back as championship contender is a legit statement.

These 5 laps at the Bahrain GP

When you wake up in sunny Florida with perfect weather, and all you do is showering and dust off that Ferrari polo that I have been hiding for years to avoid unwelcomed talks about the silver arrow world and whether is the car or the driver the incredible champion, understand that race runs through your veins.

Leclerc starts P1. Sainz P3.

As a fan, I am truly waiting for the end of the race, finally rejoicing seeing a red suit driver lifting up the winner trophy.

Max Verstappen though, is P2.

The past season Max has been phenomenal, another raw talent – the other, in my pragmatic view, is indeed our Charles – that shown an extreme driving, made of aggressiveness and speed.

This guy is intimidating.

I was expecting, or maybe hoping, Sainz would be the Checo Perez of the situation just like last seasons’ final race, so Leclerc could easily escape few seconds away and start focusing on race management, which I do believe he will need to master in the next races.

It didn’t go that way, to the extent that lap 17 Max gets fastest lap, close the gap with Leclerc and engages in a great battle that shows all the potential of what the new cars are bringing to the race: cars can manage waves better, they can stay close one to the other with so much less turbulence, allowing battling like never before.

That between Red Bull and Ferrari was a legit dogfight.

Verstappen and Leclerc in these 5 laps are the most beautiful endorsement of Formula 1. This is indeed the greatest level of race and by far one of the most exciting 5 laps I have seen in a long time.

My Wildest Dream

I text some friends, including my boss, around Friday. “We are looking strong, better watch the race”. I could never expect such a perfect race with Leclerc and Sainz leading Ferrari to P1 and P2.

There is no space to find other reasons why this happened. All credits go to Ferrari’s work all weekend long.

Ferrari shown superiority during the race.

There isn’t much correlation of Ferrari’s success with Red Bull debacle, because in all fairness, through the whole race and after the safety car, Leclerc had a cleaner, polished and well-managed drive, compared to the dutchman. The only ones benefiting from Red Bull’s last 3 laps nightmares were Mercedes.

In all fairness, if Max was going to end the race, chances are he’d defend second place and look at his mirrors because Sainz was coming strong.

No chance with Charles. What a talent. Give him a car, and you get wins. Fans hoped it, Ferrari too. That’s why the Monegasque signed a contract until 2026 (back in 2020).

Sainz is that driver that compensate raw talent with a methodical technique, and through the race the Spaniard have been growing, and going faster. No comparison with Checo Perez – if we look at the “second” drivers – which prior burning the third Honda engine of the race, competed only with Mercedes and a spectacular Magnussen with Haas (Ferrari Engine).

I loved seeing Alfa Romeo back in points, only note is on Bottas: you are not shadowing the other guy, it’s your time to shine, we want you aggressive. This Ferrari engine gave a taste of superiority, with Mclaren, Aston Martin and Williams (all with Mercedes) looking like the 2021’s Hass and Alfa Romeo and Alpine, just floating in the middle trying to execute “El Plan” that Fernando Alonso would hope it will show some signs of competitiveness.

I did not mention Hamilton’s performance. For once in eight years, we can leave it off a race recap. Although that decision of putting hard tires at the early stages of the race, raises some questions.

Note on the new cars

In my previous article, I posted some major changes and the impact of new regulations imposed by FIA. These cars exceeded anyone’s expectations: extremely beautiful and brought in such a refreshing racing taste that the competition needed. It is technological advancement. I would call it technological superiority, if compared to any other races. In Bahrain these new cars brought in sleek designs, competition first in engineering and then on track. It was one of the most beautiful Formula 1 shows I ever seen.

It was the inauguration of a new Era for Formula 1.

Ferrari brought it home.

Qatar was colored all red. Ferrari first in WDC and Constructors. Not even in my wildest dreams.

See you in Saudi Arabia

Bahrain GP is not an “absolute” metric to how this Formula 1 season will go. There will be another week of study and development. Despite seeing a defeated Mercedes, Toto Wolff and team are an 8th times constructor champion and I am sure that while I am (cautiously) writing about them being the third force in Formula 1, they are prepping some wizardly behind the scenes. One thing I am excited to see is the response to the cost cap, as Mercedes (among others) won’t be able to inject more capital at freewill to fill the gap shown in the first race. At least we know that inside that magic hat, there isn’t unlimited funding this time. Same discussion for Red Bull, which looks extremely strong, but the big engine issues past lap 50 are something Horner sees as alarming.

Saudi Arabia is a street track, and we will see some new variations in terms of impact and performance from these new cars. As per today, we join Scuderia Ferrari for the celebratory dances after the Bahrain GP.