What the 2022 Bahrain GP battles taught F1 about the impact of its new era

Right now, Formula 1 is riding the crest of a wave. There are legions of new fans brought in by the success and profiles of new young drivers from across Europe. Netflix’s Drive to Survive is finally giving credence to the idea of the championship cracking America. The first Chinese driver has started an F1 race and scored a brilliant debut point. Across the globe, fans starved of in-person entertainment during the pandemic are buying tickets for returning races in huge numbers.

How great then for F1 and the engineers that created the new car formula designed to enhance the championship’s racing product to further please existing fans and bring in even more, that the fight for the win in last weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix contained a thrilling phase of wheel-to-wheel fighting.

Last year had flashes of such encounters – Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton in Turkey and Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen against frankly anyone who dared to stand in his utterly non-compromising way – but they were few and far between, and shorter scraps overall.

In this case, the battle was even over first place, with eventual race winner Charles Leclerc and Verstappen engaged in a lengthy thriller, one that may well have gone on for longer had the Red Bull driver not been dealing with pace-sapping and tyre-wrecking brake problems that severely reduced his performance level.

PLUS: Why Mercedes was right to temper expectations and how it might recover

For three laps the battle played out brilliantly in the Sakhir track’s opening corners – Verstappen diving from ridiculously far distances and holding on to shoot ahead of the Ferrari. This was being piloted by a driver smart enough to let his rival do his typically aggressive thing with his car’s immense end-of-straight speed, thanks to its low-drag rear wing.

Leclerc would “brake early into Turn 1 just to be behind him at the [Turn 2] DRS detection” and use that “trying to be as clever as possible” to set up his own bold pass at the next opportunity. His around-the-outside pass into Turn 4 was simply stunning. But the calculated approach was clear too.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Verstappen’s car let the Dutchman down even before it conked out with a fuel pick up problem in the race’s closing stage, as his brake problem led to the lock-up that helped Leclerc break clear decisively and go on to take a famous Ferrari win.

PLUS: The unseen Verstappen problem that ensured Leclerc's Bahrain GP win

Such a spectacle between two of F1’s best drivers was just what the championship hoped would happen, and occur regularly, with the change to the ground effect cars now finally racing. And now everyone wants to know if they can definitely be hailed a success.

Well, it was a brilliant start – no doubt about that. But mission accomplished can’t be declared just yet.

For a start, the Bahrain race is usually pretty entertaining – even when there are just two cars from one team involved in the victory tussle, as proved by 2014 and Hamilton versus Nico Rosberg. The rough asphalt and long straights mean pace deltas can form easily, with the wide track encouraging passing overall.

“[Following] is definitely better. But when you get very close it gets similar to previous years – so within half a second [of the other car]" Alex Albon

The narrower upcoming confines of Melbourne, Imola and Barcelona – all tracks noted for producing dull races – will provide more definitive insight. They follow F1’s outlier visit to the ultra-high-speed track in Jeddah, where keeping cars out of the barriers and carbonfibre intact will be the focus. Not that passing is impossible there anyway. Plus, don’t forget Albert Park has been revamped since F1’s last race there – painfully, a full three years ago.

“I only followed into Turn 2, because I was always behind only for one corner and would get Max back into Turn 4,” Leclerc said of F1’s new overtaking challenge.

“It was tricky. It was nice though. It was on the limit, hard racing. But we will always give each other space, which was nice. Following him into Turn 2 was actually a bit more predictable than what I expected or what I had last year. So, this was good.”

Alex Albon, Williams FW44, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03, Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-22, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42

Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

PLUS: Why Haas is back to where it should be in F1's pecking order

Down the field, Williams driver Alex Albon was involved in plenty of scraps – most notably with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. Now the new cars are sending plenty of dirty air upwards and not backwards, albeit with a smaller slipstream effect, Albon reckons following closely and then attacking is “OK, but it is not as easy as people think”.

“It is definitely better,” he added. “But when you get very close it gets similar to previous years – so within half a second [of the other car]. But I was pleasantly surprised by it.”

That’s pretty much where the assessment of F1’s new car rules impacting overtaking must sit right now: promising, but not without issue. And the same goes for other areas of the fresh start.

One key aim of the new regulations was to build a greater spread of success throughout the field. In Bahrain, Ferrari took its first victory since 2019, Haas its first points since 2020. But not only were there other factors principally behind those swings, but really the event boiled down to Ferrari vs Red Bull, and everyone else behind.

That is very familiar for F1. Silver simply swapped for red.

Mercedes’ porpoising problem kept it far from the lead fight last weekend, while Ferrari’s 2022 engine is now “the best” to have, per Haas team boss Gunther Steiner. Other teams hoping for revitalised fortunes are currently alarmingly off the pace – there should be big worry at McLaren, Williams and Aston Martin.

Ferrari’s 1-2 could also be something of a false dawn. Red Bull should’ve been on pole and should’ve been able to cope with the braking demands even before the late-race reliability implosion it suffered. If it had been able to recreate its FP2 pace in free, albeit hotter, air on Sunday, Verstappen surely would’ve romped to a second successive win following his title-sealing Abu Dhabi triumph.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

It is Red Bull’s overall threat that is said to occupy Mercedes’ thoughts of which rival it ultimately needs to catch in 2022. Not Ferrari.

There, Leclerc says his team is concerned “that on some tracks [the major porpoising it encountered at Barcelona] might be more of an issue”, which would force it towards set-up compromises that hinder overall pace, a la Mercedes right now. Jeddah, Leclerc says, and “the fast left where I crashed last year” might be “quite tricky” for porpoising and is therefore a key test of the work Ferrari has done since it last ran on a smooth surface, such as the one in Spain last month.

The surface change surrounding F1’s age is good overall, but concerns remain just below

There are also other snags being covered by the glow of F1’s new era.

The bottom six cars in last Sunday’s race were from the three Mercedes customer squads. That, allied with the Ferrari customers jumping back up the order will set tongues wagging. Not that there is necessarily anything untoward going on, but with engines now frozen until 2026, pace disparity surely won’t just be politely accepted for long in F1’s political wrangling.

And then there was the FIA’s supposed new era of openness – beginning with the release of the findings of its Abu Dhabi 2021 probe. Well, it didn’t bring the closure, transparency, or explanations many wanted. It even left some people wondering why former race director Michael Masi had been removed given the report hardly condemned his actions…

So, the surface change surrounding F1’s age is good overall, but concerns remain just below. For now, that's fine. As the championship’s sporting boss, Ross Brawn, said in the Bahrain paddock last Sunday: “It is a sample based on one, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves".

Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images