After an thrilling Chinese Grand Prix, Formula One turns its attention to Bahrain for a duel in the desert.
The race has seen some entertaining races in recent years since moving to the evening local time. Fernando Alonso announced that he’s missing Monaco to go and race in Indy 500 but what are the three big talking points ahead of this weekend?
- Another Mercedes vs Ferrari battle?
The last two races in Bahrain have seen proper battles between Mercedes and Ferrari.
It has been Kimi Raikkonen behind the Prancing Horse’s last two podiums here. This race has often seen Kimi come alive and kick start his season so can he do it again?
Sebastian Vettel will be hoping for better success this time round after failing to start last year’s race. He also had a disappointing race in 2015 after getting tangled with Rosberg then damaging his front wing to rule out any chance of a podium.
2. Correct tyre strategies
In recent years, tyre strategies have been key in this race.
With Pirelli bringing the same tyres that were used last weekend, (medium, soft & super soft), expect to see Mercedes to try and get back to back victories.
Ferrari’s car is a fan of hot temperatures but the race itself will be quite cool and windy at 28 degrees air temp. Could this end up costing the Scuderia their first Bahrain victory since 2010?
3. Wehrlein’s back
After missing the first two races, Pascal Wehrlein is finally expected to make his race bow for Sauber.
The German has suffered from a back injury in recent months after an accident at the Race of Champions in January. Now that he’s fully fit, expect to see him try and prove why he deserved the seat ahead of reserve driver – Antonio Giovinazzi.
Now that the two regular race drivers are getting their first race weekend together, we should start to see how much pace is in the car. Giovinazzi showed that the Sauber has plenty of speed when deputising but just how much of that was to his talent alone?
Check back on Sunday evening for a round up of the weekend in ‘Five things F1 learned: Bahrain’.
Leave a Reply