2022 Bahrain Grand Prix - Sakhir, March 18 - 20

[F1Krof]

It's going to be a boring at the front with: 1. Verstappen; 2. Perez; 3. Leclerc; 4. Sainz.

It's going to be exciting battle for the best of the rest with close contests between McLaren and Mercedes (I think Norris will be finsihing 5th, with Hamilton 6th, Ricciardo 7th and Russel 8th if Gasly and Mick does not spur any surprise) .

Back end of the middlefield we'll see ATR having the better of AMR, Alpine, Haas and Williams.

[Just_a_fan]

On the other hand, tyre deg from following is also going to be reduced so those that couldn't get close because their tyres would be ruined will now not have that issue.

Maybe. But if the drivers are struggling to be able to pass for want of a tow on the straights, I fear we will see some desperate lunges in to corners as drivers resort to dive bombing to make a pass.

It will be interesting, if that does occur, to see which drivers are able to pull off such moves successfully and also which drivers are ham-fisted in their defence of such moves. I foresee a lot of contact if this does come to pass.

Is that what overtakes were before DRS?

What it will give the drivers is the option to hang back and then carry more speed through a corner onto the straight. DRS may not be required & neither is a desperate lunge. DRS has probably created more desperate lunges than any other technology on the previous generation of cars (because the skill of the overtake has been diminished).

DRS was brought in because there was little overtaking on track. Most was done using pit stop strategies, especially in the refuelling era.

We've had a driver say he was within a couple of car lengths and got no appreciable tow. If that lack of tow translates to the races, we will see drivers on the gearbox down the straight and then having to time the duck out and brake moment. I can see some getting it wrong initially as both try to be the last of the late brakers. It's going to be interesting. Certainly, defending the inside line is going to be even more important than it might have been in recent years.

I can also see drivers in the front of such a pairing using a subtle brake check to make the following driver back off.

I can see drivers with recent junior series experience having the upper hand initially.

[jumpingfish]

If slipstream is reduced then a powerful engine and low drag now have increased effect compared to last years, right?

[LM10]

If slipstream is reduced then a powerful engine and low drag now have increased effect compared to last years, right?

Yes.

[mwillems]

Cars have different strategies, tyre wear rates, entry profiles, exit orofiles, one car works well on softs and another on mediums.... cars will still catch up with other cars lol

[Wouter]

Who is the RD this weekend, Eduardo Freitas or Niels Wittich?

[silver]

George Russell was the driver that spoke about reduced slipstream effect and Lando nodded a bit. He made that statement in the first test and other than him, there was no other driver who made any such statements. To be fair, Mercedes was mostly using lower engine modes for majority of the times and the car he was chasing was Lando Norris in a McLaren who were happy to go after some lap times in the first test along with Ferraris. In fact in second test, thanks the live telecast, we saw a lot of drivers going around overtaking. To me, Russel's one instance was a very poor sample rate to base any opinions on. If it would have been consistent, we would have heard more from drivers. On the other hand, there may be some other problems that we haven't witnessed yet.

McLaren driver Norris had made the same observation about a reduced slipstream effect.

“I think me and George had a perfect demonstration of it,” he said. “I didn’t want to let him past while he was on a quick lap, so I screwed him over and had him off a bit! That’s what you do in testing.

[taperoo2k]

Question: Will teammate slipstreaming play a role in qualifying this weekend? If it does play a role then a team would want teammates that are more or less the same pace. Right?

Sent from my SM-G9910 using Tapatalk

I don't remeber the other driver who said the same. This is what Russell said:

“I think the following has been improved but the slipstream effect has been reduced quite substantially,” Russell said.

“You obviously need that delta in the straights to overtake because you can only overtake at the end of a straight and into a corner.

“We can follow closer but from what we have seen, the slipstream effect is definitely less effective. We will have to wait and see.

“I got right up behind Lando, I was a car-length or two behind him and didn’t catch the straight, so that was slightly concerning so let’s see.”

It would be ironic if all the effort to come up with these regs ended up with cars that can't overtake on the straights.

If they can overtake on the corners then it won't be soo bad. Some tweaks to the DRS zones might be required if they want overtakes on the straights. Lets wait and see how the cars respond in racing conditions rather than testing conditions. All will likely become a bit clearer on Sunday. It'll either be a smooth race with some exciting overtaking or a bit of a destruction derby with Drivers trying overtakes where they wouldn't have before.

[Spoutnik]

I expect a two or three stopper strategy because I heard that tyres deg was high even with more "consistent" tyres.
I think the car with less pure pace - apparently (i.e Merc, McLaren or Alpine) - will try to do one stop less and be really fast on the straight with the DRS not being as powerfu as beforel.
I'm going for a Sainz maiden win with and an unexpected Alpine on the podium, completed by one of the big guns (Hamilton, Verstappen or Leclerc). I think Leclerc will be on pole he's got a mental pace over one lap on this track.

[dren]

I expect a two or three stopper strategy because I heard that tyres deg was high even with more "consistent" tyres.
I think the car with less pure pace - apparently (i.e Merc, McLaren or Alpine) - will try to do one stop less and be really fast on the straight with the DRS not being as powerfu as beforel.
I'm going for a Sainz maiden win with and an unexpected Alpine on the podium, completed by one of the big guns (Hamilton, Verstappen or Leclerc). I think Leclerc will be on pole he's got a mental pace over one lap on this track.

While I'd prefer a Verstappen win, I'd be down with this outcome. Keep the Mercedes off the podium though! I have a sneaky suspicion that Alpine might be better than we expect.

[Spoutnik]

I expect a two or three stopper strategy because I heard that tyres deg was high even with more "consistent" tyres.
I think the car with less pure pace - apparently (i.e Merc, McLaren or Alpine) - will try to do one stop less and be really fast on the straight with the DRS not being as powerfu as beforel.
I'm going for a Sainz maiden win with and an unexpected Alpine on the podium, completed by one of the big guns (Hamilton, Verstappen or Leclerc). I think Leclerc will be on pole he's got a mental pace over one lap on this track.

While I'd prefer a Verstappen win, I'd be down with this outcome. Keep the Mercedes off the podium though! I have a sneaky suspicion that Alpine might be better than we expect.

I'd prefer Hamilton to win but Merc are well known for their slow start of the season, when they face competition : 2017, 2021 and the most striking example to me was 2018.
I think the RB18 - if she's as heavy as the rumors stated - will suffer with 100kg of fuel. Honestly, this car will be a boat on the first stint... I also think this track doesn't fit RB traditional qualities if they keeps the same philosophy as before.
Regarding Alpine I do agree with you.

[Just_a_fan]

I expect a two or three stopper strategy because I heard that tyres deg was high even with more "consistent" tyres.
I think the car with less pure pace - apparently (i.e Merc, McLaren or Alpine) - will try to do one stop less and be really fast on the straight with the DRS not being as powerfu as beforel.
I'm going for a Sainz maiden win with and an unexpected Alpine on the podium, completed by one of the big guns (Hamilton, Verstappen or Leclerc). I think Leclerc will be on pole he's got a mental pace over one lap on this track.

While I'd prefer a Verstappen win, I'd be down with this outcome. Keep the Mercedes off the podium though! I have a sneaky suspicion that Alpine might be better than we expect.

You don't fancy a three-way between Max, Lewis and Fernando? That would be spicy. And probably result in someone else winning!

[holeindalip]

I expect a two or three stopper strategy because I heard that tyres deg was high even with more "consistent" tyres.
I think the car with less pure pace - apparently (i.e Merc, McLaren or Alpine) - will try to do one stop less and be really fast on the straight with the DRS not being as powerfu as beforel.
I'm going for a Sainz maiden win with and an unexpected Alpine on the podium, completed by one of the big guns (Hamilton, Verstappen or Leclerc). I think Leclerc will be on pole he's got a mental pace over one lap on this track.

While I'd prefer a Verstappen win, I'd be down with this outcome. Keep the Mercedes off the podium though! I have a sneaky suspicion that Alpine might be better than we expect.

You don't fancy a three-way between Max, Lewis and Fernando? That would be spicy. And probably result in someone else winning!

No, I would prefer If Russell,Leclerc and Sainz were all in the mix too

[Just_a_fan]

While I'd prefer a Verstappen win, I'd be down with this outcome. Keep the Mercedes off the podium though! I have a sneaky suspicion that Alpine might be better than we expect.

You don't fancy a three-way between Max, Lewis and Fernando? That would be spicy. And probably result in someone else winning!

No, I would prefer If Russell,Leclerc and Sainz were all in the mix too

I was thinking one of them might be the winner...

[JonoNic]

I have read the comments about overtaking by slipstreaming, they all make sense. However, I do think that we will see synchronized qualifying during the season will be more important. I Simply because can follow each other through the twisty parts of the track. There will also be more chance of being pulled along two or even three straights rather than the usual one before the tyres take a beating. That would be a significant improvement over a lap.