Is Red Bull overthrown? startling disclosures from Bahrain’s practice

Is Red Bull overthrown? startling disclosures from Bahrain’s practice

 

The Formula 1 team hierarchy was suddenly turned upside down on the first day of practice in Bahrain. Up until Thursday, the hierarchy appeared to be established in stone. Aston Martin ambassador Pedro de la Rosa sparked controversy when he said to DAZN, “I’ve spoken with several teams, and they all made a ranking with the six best teams.” And we’re all not ranked the same way,” she said, giving away that this season will be less predictable than expected.

 

Pre-season testing had Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, who was previously believed to be in a class of its own, suddenly relegated to sixth fastest. Teammate Sergio Perez offered this reflection on the hasty judgments of Verstappen’s superiority: “We heard a lot from people that after the tests we were ahead of everyone by a second.” Knowing that everything will be considerably tighter made me happy.

 

Oscar Piastri of McLaren suggested that Red Bull was playing mind tricks when he said, “We’ll see how many sandbags they unload from their cars tomorrow,” raising the possibility that Red Bull was concealing their actual speed.

 

Mercedes, who soared to the top of the session on Thursday, was accused of purposeful deceit of their own. The head of Mercedes’ team, Toto Wolff, dismissed the notion of holding back, stating that qualifying day marks the start of the true competition. Though he seemed less concerned than anticipated, Wolff acknowledged, “In the long run we are still three tenths behind Max.”

 

Verstappen appeared to be having difficulty as he expressed his real dissatisfaction over the radio, calling the car’s performance “miles off” and “everything is sh**.”

 

Hamilton, who beat Thursday’s speeds, did concede that Red Bull might still have an advantage under race conditions, saying, “Our long run pace isn’t in the fight with the Red Bulls.”

 

Russell, driving the other Mercedes, concurred, predicting a close race with Red Bull, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Ferrari.

 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz provided some insight into the competitive nature of Formula One. “Nobody reveals everything in testing,” he said, pointing out that Mercedes is competitive and implying that Red Bull may still divulge more. “I expect Red Bull Racing to get better because they were much faster on long runs than on fast laps.”

 

Former Red Bull driver Christian Klien made the observation, “It has become clear that Mercedes was fully accelerating but Red Bull wasn’t at all,” implying that both teams were executing calculated moves.

 

The fascinating Bahraini season opener raises the possibility that the race for supremacy may be closer and more unexpected than previously believed, drawing the attention of the entire Formula 1 world.