Quali Questions…
Race weekends are finally back and we could not be happier! After 102 days without a race weekend we are in Bahrain for the season opener.
With many questions looming after testing of who is going to be top, we were so excited to see the cars in action, especially in qualifying!
Testing provided us with some serious questions about the reigning champs Mercedes, were they sandbagging? or are they holding out for a surprise in qualifying? Practice 1,2 and 3 again did not bring much confidence for fans of Mercedes as they received mixed signals from the drivers, Valtteri Bottas branding the car as “un-drivable” on Friday and Hamilton seeming to be more comfortable in the W12 throughout all sessions. The rear-end of the Merc seems to be a lot less stable this year, we hope this doesn’t shake their chances at a championship too much!
Red Bull looked very comfortable at the top during testing, giving many of us hope that this will be the year we can see a team really threaten the Mercs. With a car that looks more stable and a driver pairing consisting of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, there is a huge chance this team will see the top step of that podium a lot more this year! Max Verstappen again highlighted the sheer pace of the Red Bull by topping Practice sessions 1, 2 and 3!! The main question that was asked after every practice session was, are the Bulls going to top qualifying?
McLaren have proved they could be within a shot to have another great season, being the talk of pre-season testing with not only their brilliant diffuser trick but also the great lap times that we could see coming out of Riccardo and Norris. The drivers were bringing out fast lap times in some of the practice sessions but Riccardo and Norris stated that people should not get overly excited just yet... The question that was looming over the team was... Will all of this positivity surrounding McLaren follow them into qualifying?
Yuki Tsunoda has come out with confidence at the start of his rookie season, testing being a major highlight for him. The Japanese driver looked comfortable in practice sessions and many were wondering how he will perform in his first race weekend??
After pre-season testing and all of the practice sessions it is extremely difficult to picture how the midfield will look this year. Aston Martin have not pulled anything exciting out of the bag yet, Räikkönen has surprised us all with some shockers to throw us in a spin and Sainz has shown his strength as a driver in Ferrari by topping his teammate in practice sessions 2 and 3! Haas has 2 rookies in the running, after an awful 2020 and will be hoping they can reinvent themselves, another team hoping to push forward is Williams who have new management but the same drivers Russell and Latifi. Alonso is back racing in Alpine with Ocon, a partnership we can’t wait to see! Gasly will be showing Tsunoda the ropes while hoping to top him on pace. The midfield grid is one big question none of us had a clue about!
Quali has arrived!!
Qualifying has given us a smallhint at the season, for now... The race will give us more answers but! Only time will tell...
Out in Q1!
20. Mazepin
19. Schumacher
18. Vettel
17. Latifi
16. Ocon
What a shock! Vettel out in Q1. After a solid start by the Aston Martin cars the yellow flag, caused by Nikita Mazepin spinning out, ultimately ruined Vettels attempt at a faster lap. Schumacher out-qualified his teammate Nikita Mazepin after his spin. Latifi luckily getting out of the bottom spaces but just not enough to get him into Q2! Again Ocon was sadly forced to slow down on his shot at a faster lap due to that yellow flag!
Out in Q2!
15. Russel
14. Räikkönen
13. Tsunoda
12. Giovinazzi
11. Perez
Russel into Q2 again! The “Mr Saturday” title follows George into 2021 as he puts his Williams into 15th. Both of the Alfa Romeos into Q2 is great to see after a tough year for them in 2020, the team could be looking up as they get more comfortable on the track! After an amazing Q1 putting the car up to P2 sadly the rookie, Yuki Tsunoda, could not carry his excellent pace through to Q1. A serious shock!! Sergio Perez does not make it into Q1 after the Bulls being pegged as favourites! We hope that Sergio uses his excellent race experience to make his way up the grid on Sunday!!
The top 10!!!
10. Stroll
9. Alonso
8. Sainz
7. Norris
6. Ricciardo
5. Gasly
4. Leclerc
3. Bottas
2. Hamilton
1. Verstappen
MAX MAX SUPER MAX!!! Max Verstappen puts his Red Bull on pole! Max’s Red Bull is the first car to beat a Mercedes to pole on the opening race of the season (quali) since the start of the hybrid era in 2013!! A great performance from the Ferraris in Q2 getting P1 and 2 (in softs...) but sadly there just wasn’t enough in the Ferraris to get them into the top 3. Gasly again proves himself as a brilliant driver getting his Alpha Tauri up to P5, the Frenchman seems to be improving consistently and we love to see it! Ricciardo out-qualifies Norris!! There’s a shock we didn’t expect. On his first qualifying with McLaren Ricciardo just managed to out-qualify Norris to get P6! Stroll in P10 in the Aston Martin, a great result after the team after Sebastian Vettel was sadly impacted by the yellow flag of Nikita Mazepin. Alonso is back! The familiar face to F1 fans is back and reaches P8 on his qualifying return! Hamilton has his challenge he has been asking for! Hamilton and Bottas in P2 and 3, the Mercs put on a great performance in Q3 proving they still have the pace everyone was doubting but it is obvious the lead over the grid Mercedes had last year is fading!
After this tense qualifying session do we have any answers to the questions that were raised before the season started???
Mercedes have definitely improved in pace since testing, maybe the team was not sandbagging! (shocked face) There is an obvious decrease in the lead the team had over the grid in 2020 but we are only 1 qualifying into the season and a lot can change! We are so excited to see how the race and the whole season will play out!(praying for a title battle)
It was all going so well for the Bulls on pace but sadly whether it was down to strategy or an unknown issue, Sergio Perez did not make it into Q1 (sad face!). Luckily the Red Bulls constructors hard work over the winter payed off in the form of Max Verstappen! P1 for the Bulls, breaking Mercedes’ record of getting pole in quali in the first race of the season, which had been upheld by the team since the beginning of the hybrid era!! We don’t want to jinx it but there may be a much closer title battle between not only Red Bull and Mercedes but also Max and Lewis!!!
The positivity followed McLaren all the way through to Q1 but sadly there wasn’t enough in the McLaren to get them any further than P6 and 7. We still believe the team will have a strong year and we see both cars reaching Q1 frequently this season!
YUKI TSUNODA! What a way to let F1 know you have arrived! Getting P2 in Q3 and reaching Q2 in his first F1 qualifying! Yuki Tsunoda looks very comfortable in his Alpha Tauri and looks as though he is on his way towards a positive season!!
The midfield battle is going to be intense!!! Although we do not have much to base our opinions on we can tell that there is a strong group ready to race here! The Alfa Romeos seem to have much more engine power than last year after spending much of 2020 stuck in Q1.
Although they have changed their name, look and driver line-up, Alpine seem to have a very similar pace to last year but with the rest of the season still to come we hope to see the duo of Ocon and Alonso bring the fight to the grid!
Ferrari are finally starting to look up after a horrible 2020 season, they have picked up much more pace and managed to get both cars into Q3!
Aston Martin, we still have mixed feelings about how the team is going to perform this year, Stroll in P10 is a very positive result to get after Vettel only managing to reach P18, we hope to see the team in racing green have a stronger performance in races to come!
Alpha Tauri look very strong this year and their driver line-up of Gasly and Tsunoda is going to be one to watch!
Williams seem to be very similar to last year, Russell again gaining his “Mr Saturday” title is a positive that has carried on into 2021 we hope to see Latifi join him soon and to see the team make their way up into points this season.
Haas again looks as though not much of their pace has changed with both drivers in P19 and 20... Mazespin (we couldn’t help ourselves hehe) is the name branded to Nikita Mazepin after spinning out twice in qualifying!! Both of Hass’ drivers are rookies so we will allow the two some time to adjust and hopefully get into a faster pace but F1 moves fast we just hope they keep up!
Only one qualifying is not enough to tell us how this season will play out or completely answer any questions raised before the start of the season but we do have an idea that this season will be a big one! Only time will tell...
We cant wait for the race!!!
Let us know your race and season predictions on our Instagram @fs_formulas!!!
See you next week!
Soph & Sach
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