#F1 Gulf Air #BahrainGP and 2021 Season Preview. #Formula1

The Bahrain GP and Season Preview is here! With testing now complete, the stage is set for round one of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, which returns to the hot desert and under the lights in Sakhir at the Bahrain International Circuit this weekend for the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2021. This will be the 17^th Grand Prix that Bahrain has hosted.

 

 

Bahrain GP Preview – A look at the Bahrain International Circuit

 

 

The Bahrain International Circuit is a permanent racing facility which opened in 2004 and is used for the FIA Formula One World Championship, FIA Formula 2 Championship, the FIA World Endurance Championship and the traditional 24 Hours of Bahrain. It is located at Sakhir, 30 kilometres south-west of the island’s capital Manama.

 

The circuit was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, the same architect who has designed many other modern circuits on the Formula One calendar. The main contractor for the project was Cybarco-WCT. The multi-million-dollar project started back in September 2002 when the Kingdom of Bahrain signed a long-term deal to host the first ever Middle Eastern round of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The circuit costed approximately 56.2 million Bahraini Dinars (US$150 million) to build and construct. It has six separate tracks, including a 6.299km endurance circuit, a test oval and drag strip.

 

The circuit posed a unique problem as it was positioned in the middle of a desert, there were worries that sand would blow onto the track and disrupt the race weekend. However, organisers of the event were able to keep the sand off the track by spraying an adhesive on the sand around the track to keep it still.

 

The surface of the track is made of Graywacke Aggregate, shipped to Bahrain from Bayston Hill quarry Shropshire, England. The surface material is highly acclaimed by circuit bosses and Formula 1 drivers for the high level of grip it offers. The same type of material is used at the Yas Marina Circuit for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

 

The 5.412 km Grand Prix circuit was designed to give spectators the best possible experience, with 50,000 grandstand capacity seating, all providing great views of the circuit. Those spectators (A total of up to 100,000 on the race weekend) get to see the cars charging into the external desert area, before coming back into the oasis-styled infield section. Over 500 journalists from around the globe can also witness the action from the venue’s purpose-built media centre.

A modified ‘endurance’ style track layout was used for the season-opening 2010 event, with an additional complex starting at Turn Four extending the lap to 23 corners from its original 15 and 6.299 km, but the event reverted to its original track configuration for 2012. It gives the driver a unique experience in the way the circuit’s width varies at the end of the different straights. This allows for diverse racing lines, and the 15-turn design provides three great places for overtaking.

 

The circuit places a lot of great challenges on the cars including cooling, braking performance, and traction. The smooth tarmac and gentle kerbs encourage the drivers to attack the many medium speed corners. Tyre wear is normally on the cusp between a two-three stop strategy although the evening’s race takes the extreme temperatures out of the equation with track temperatures dropping fast as the sun goes down.

 

Another tough challenge for the engineers and in particular the drivers are the variable levels of grip that afflict the circuit. With high winds common, the circuit is frequently swept with dust from the desert, leading to the unusual circumstance of the circuit sometimes “devolving’ during the sessions.

 

The Bahrain International Grand Prix Circuit runs in a clockwise direction and is 5.412km (3.363 miles) in length with 15 corners.

 

The race distance is 308.238km (191.530 miles) in length with 57 laps in total.

 

Pedro De La Rosa holds the fastest lap record at the Bahrain International Circuit set in 2005 with a 1:31.447 in his McLaren-Mercedes MP4-20.

 

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have the most Bahrain Grand Prix victories with four to their respective names.

 

Scuderia Ferrari is the most successful Constructor at the Bahrain Grand Prix with six victories.

 

Bahrain GP Preview – A lap of the Bahrain International Circuit

 

 

Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Bahrain International Circuit from last year’s event, set by Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer. The reigning World Champion posted a blistering 1:27.264. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhZxM6jNz8A

 

Bahrain GP Preview – The Last Five Winners

 

 

2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2019: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2017: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2016: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1.

 

Bahrain GP Preview – Tyres

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them the red-marked C4 “Soft” tyres to Bahrain alongside the yellow-branded C3 “Medium” compounds and the white-marked C2 “Hard” rubber over the race weekend including the green-marked “Intermediate” and blue-marked “Full Wet” tyres in case of rain.

 

Drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two sets of the harder compounds.

 

Bahrain GP Preview – DRS Zones

There will be three DRS Zones for the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. The first detection point is 50 metres before turn one with the activation zone 23 metres after turn three. The second detection point is 10 metres before turn nine with the second activation zone 50 metres after turn 10. The third detection point is 108 metres before turn 14 with the third activation zone 170 metres after the final corner.

 

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Bahrain GP Preview – What’s New For Formula 1 in 2021?

 

 

There have been some small, but significant changes for the 2021 Formula One season, here is what to look out for:

 

1. Car Floors Have Been Changed – The most clear change for 2021 to notice is that there is alterations to a car’s floor shape. In previous seasons, the visible parts of the floor, when seen from above, have looked rectangular, with various lateral and longitudinal slots sticking out of them. The slots were used by the ten teams to have an increase in downforce generated near the floor areas, giving the cars stronger suction underneath it, along with fine-tuning the vortex, which forms at the floors’ edge to further improve its ground effect. The slots have been closed up in 2021 – with the regulations stating that the floors must be fully solid – whilst the floors will also be featuring rectangular cutaways at their rear, cutting the downforce-generating surface area on the cars further.

 

2. Rear Brake Duct Winglets Shortened – A more minor change for this campaign will be the alteration to the rear brake duct winglets on the cars, with those winglets on the duct’s lower half to be reduced in length by 40 millimetres to 80 millimetres, whilst the top winglets remain at 120 millimetres. The winglets may be smaller, but they critically create downforce, which is directly fed to the wheels, which makes it highly efficient.

 

3. Diffuser Fences Cut Down – The final change in the tweaking of the technical regulations in the aim of reducing the car’s downforce levels were the shortening of the diffuser fences – those vertical strakes, which are seen hanging down from the back of the cars’ diffusers – which are being cut in length by 50 millimetres. Like the removal of the floor slots, the cutting of these fences will make the floor seal less effective, further reducing its downforce levels.

 

4. Cost Cap Introduced – The biggest change coming to Formula 1 for the first time in 2021 and beyond was the introduction of the cost cap – set at $145 million this year – however, it will be $147.4 million, with teams given an extra $1.2 million per Grand Prix in the regulations – whilst the baseline will be reducing to $140 million next year and $135 million in 2023. The cost cap covers every aspect of running a Formula One team, with some exceptions including: driver salaries, salaries of the three highest earners in the teams and marketing costs not included. Neither the costs of employee’s maternity, paternity and sick leave, along with medical benefits for team personnel and redundancy packages. Teams are also permitted to running costs up to $45 million relating to “capital expenditure” – for purchasing things like machinery for their respective factories – between the 2021 and 24 campaigns.

 

5. Sliding Scale For The Aerodynamic Testing – Another new development for 2021 will see the introduction of a sliding scale for aerodynamic testing – a major factor given the ten teams will be finalising their new cars for the 2022 season when the new regulations fire into place. For example, a team finishing lower in the 2020 World Constructors Championship, will be given more time to work on the aerodynamics of their 2022 car, either in the wind tunnel or their Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations.

 

6. Minimum Weights Of Cars And Power-Trains Increased – There has been a slight increase in the weight of the cars this season in their under-fuelled state – rising to 752 kg in 2021 from 746 kg last campaign – with the minimum power-train weight up from 145 kg’s last season to 150 kg’s in 2021. This change is a bid to discourage teams from using exotic – and to some outfits, very expensive weight-saving materials.

 

7. Copying Parts Clamped Down – In order to stop teams copying each other, given that the 2020 cars have been carried over into 2021, especially after the chaos that surrounded Racing Point’s Mercedes W10-looking RP20 last season, the 2021 Technical Regulations now state: “although it is permissible to be influenced by the design or concept” of a rival team’s car and its individual, exclusive components (called ‘Listed Team Components’, or LTCs, in the regulations), any information used to create your own car’s parts “must potentially be available to all competitors” and “only be obtained at events or tests” – i.e. through the use of standard photography, observation, videos and so on, rather than teams being able to strike deals to have access to another competitor’s LTCs. Also, the rules have moved to outlaw teams from reverse engineering another rival’s car – including a ban on using 3D cameras to scan other team’s machinery.

 

8. Pirelli To Bring New Compounds – Last season Pirelli Head of F1 and Car Racing Mario Isola told media in Sakhir, their goal was to “improve the current construction in order to have more… integrity” by making more robust tyres for 2021. This comes after Pirelli measured some of the biggest cornering forces last campaign, which they said played a significant role in three tyre failures at the 2020 British Grand Prix. Pirelli feels the changes are necessary, even with the downforce cut mentioned above set to a level of 10% reduction – estimated by FIA’s Head of Single Seater Technical Matters Nikolas Tombazis – the teams are expected to gain back 5% from their usual development over the winter, with Pirelli opting to beef up their tyres to cope with the loads. The drivers last season got to sample the 2021 rubber in several practice sessions last campaign.

 

9. DAS Outlawed – One rule change that affects only one outfit in 2021 is the banning of Mercedes’ Dual Axis Steering system. 2020 saw Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and for the Sakhir Grand Prix, George Russell, able to use DAS by pushing and pulling their steering wheels to change the camber levels on their front tyres, assisting with tyre warm-up. The rule states “The re-alignment of the steered wheels must be uniquely defined by driver input to a single steering wheel permitted to have only one degree of freedom, which must be rotational, and the relationship between the angle of each steered wheel to the angle of the steering wheel must be a strictly monotonic function.”

 

10. Standardised Tyre Allocation – Standardised tyre allocations have been brought in for 2021, with drivers “unless otherwise determined by the FIA and with the agreement of [Pirelli]” – set to be given: two sets of hard compounds, three sets of mediums and eight sets of softs per Grand Prix weekend. Meanwhile, the current period for teams to be notified of which tyre compounds will be given for which race – nine weeks for European, and 15 for non-European rounds – has been dramatically cut to just two weeks for every event. This will help to avoid issues should the coronavirus strike and cause any changes to the 2021 calendar.

 

11. All Practice Sessions Set To One Hour – The first two practice sessions were traditionally set at 90 minutes a-piece, with Saturday’s FP3 session at 60 minutes. For 2021 however, it has been changed with Free Practice One and Two now set at 60 minutes each – with Free Practice Three also remaining at 60 minutes. The hour reduction will force teams to have more track action in their practice programmes to find the sweet-spot in their setups for qualifying and the race.

 

12. New Materials Allowed – With Formula One always embracing burgeoning technologies, the technical regulations have now been opened up to allow new “green” materials to play a role in the sport – with Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, giving the greenlight for “flax, hemp, linen, cotton and bamboo” to feature in F1.

 

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Bahrain GP Preview – F1 2021 Pre-Season Testing Round-Up

 

Test Day One – Verstappen tops time-sheets

 

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was fastest on day one of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit as a sandstorm swept the track. The first day also saw world champions Mercedes struggle with a gearbox issue and a lack of pace, ending the day with just 48 laps.

 

Verstappen drove the whole day in his Honda-powered Red Bull RB16B entry – with team-mate Sergio Perez taking his turn today – and the Dutchman finished the morning in third place, before improving under the bright lights to finish with the quickest time of the day posting a 1:30.626 on the medium compounds. Although suffering a spin, Verstappen enjoyed a trouble-free day.

 

When the afternoon running began, the wind was sending sand all over the circuit, causing drivers to encounter a lack of grip. But later in the day, as the lights pierced through the darkening sky, conditions cooled down and track grip improved as drivers pushed on and set a flurry of lap-times.

 

This saw McLaren’s Lando Norris end up second on the time-sheets also on mediums, Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon taking third using the softer rubber and Aston Martin Racing’s Lance Stroll in fourth place whilst running Pirelli’s prototype medium tyres.

 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who took-over from 11th-placed morning running team-mate Charles Leclerc to pilot the SF21 in the afternoon, completed the top five.

 

Behind Sainz in sixth place was Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who drove the C41 in the afternoon session following 12th-placed Kimi Raikkonen who’s duty was in the morning.

 

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who topped the early running, fell to seventh on the time-sheets with a 1:32.203 and racked up 45 laps in mileage.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was eighth placed on day one, in-front of team-mate Yuki Tsunoda who made his pre-season testing debut in the Honda-powered AT02. The Japanese driver wound up only half a second off the Frenchman.

 

Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top ten as Mercedes endured a tough day at the Bahrain International Circuit. The Briton completed 42 laps but failed to make use of the better grip and conditions in the evening and looked to be struggling with a lack of pace. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas could only complete six laps overall in the morning as the F1 W12 encountered a gearbox issue and saw the Finn in a low-17th on the time-sheets.

 

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel finished his first day for the Silverstone based-outfit in 13th place and ahead of Williams Racing’s test and reserve driver Roy Nissany who took 14th.

 

Uralkali Haas F1 Team revealed their Ferrari-powered VF-21 racer in the pit-lane before proceedings began and Mick Schumacher then posted his first times, before a gearbox issue struck and forced the German to have limited time on the track. Schumacher ran 15 laps and finished 16th, with new team-mate Nikita Mazepin taking over for his duty in the afternoon completing 70 laps and ended 15th quickest.

 

Day Two – Bottas fastest

 

 

Valtteri Bottas put his Mercedes on top of the time-sheets on day two of Formula 1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, beginning the Silver Arrow’s road to recovery after a difficult first day, meanwhile team-mate Lewis Hamilton brought out a red flag after suffering a spin in the morning.

 

Bottas posted a 1:30.289 on the red side-walled softest C5 compound, with just 20 minutes remaining in the session when the circuit was at its optimal. The Brackley-based squad, however, still have some issues to sort especially it’s gearbox, which saw them miss most of the morning’s running on Friday.

 

It at first did not get much better for the world champions as Hamilton ended the day 15^th quickest on his morning duties, spinning out at turn 13 and bringing out the red flag.

 

After qualifying simulations began with an hour left on the clock under the lights, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly briefly held P1, and finished 0.124 seconds behind Bottas on the same tyres. The Frenchman shared the Honda-powered AT02 with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who finished in 11^th place after running in the morning.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris also held top spot for a period of time but eventually wound up fourth on C4 soft compounds. His new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo lead the morning’s running and finished ninth on the time-sheets using the mediums.

 

Day two saw two red flags, the first by the aforementioned spin by Hamilton, and the second from eighth-placed Red Bull of Sergio Perez after the engine cover blew off his RB16B spectacularly and he pulled out from behind Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi down the main straight. Perez used the harder rubber to set his effort.

 

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team’s Lance Stroll finished the day in third with a very late flyer, but his new team-mate Sebastian Vettel was the slowest of all, with only 10 laps completed after encountering a gearbox issue in the morning, which was fixed just in time for Stroll’s run.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing allocated a full day of running for Antonio Giovinazzi after Kimi Raikkonen drove the first day, and the Italian clocked up 124 laps of mileage and rounded out the top five, setting a 1:30.760 on the C5 red-branded soft tyres.

 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was unable to beat the Alfa Romeo with his hot lap effort later on and wound up in sixth place on the same rubber as Giovinazzi having taken over from team-mate Carlos Sainz (who finished 13^th overall) in the afternoon session. Sainz suffered a dramatic spin in the morning but ran 56 laps, whilst Leclerc completed 73 in total.

 

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso made his first appearance since recovering from a broken jaw sustained in a cycling accident last month, and the two-time World Champion reached 127 laps over the day with Esteban Ocon watching on from the pits. The Spaniard switched places with McLaren’s Ricciardo in the morning running but it was the Australian who came out on top by a tenth in that session. Alonso ended the day in 10^th place on the time-sheets.

 

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi achieved a huge 132 laps, but the Canadian also suffered a spin in the evening as he attempted to make an overtake on Leclerc’s slow-moving SF21 into the first corner. The Canadian finished seventh and in-front of Red Bull Racing’s eighth-placed Perez using soft tyres, with George Russell set to pilot the Mercedes-powered FW43B today.

 

Uralkali Haas F1 Team had Nikita Mazepin driving on the second day in the morning as the Russian finished 14^th place overall, with team-mate Mick Schumacher running in the evening taking 12^th place.

 

Day Three – Verstappen ends final day quickest.

 

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped the time-sheets on the final day of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit, just in-front of Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who ensured a Honda-powered one-two.

 

Tsunoda posted a series of fastest lap times late in the session on the Pirelli Zero C5 softer tyres, and as Verstappen put on the C4’s, the two had a thrilling time-attack battle under the lights. But it was the Dutchman who came out on top setting a 1:28.690, with Tsunoda only 0.093 seconds off. Verstappen’s new team-mate Sergio Perez was quickest in the morning session on the C4 compounds and wound up sixth in the classification to complete a promising test for the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

 

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third fastest, with the Spaniard suffering a brief halt in the running due to a hydraulics problem but clocked up 79 laps in total having emerged later on in the session. His team-mate Charles Leclerc was second in the morning and 10^th at the end on the medium rubber.

 

Right near the end of the session, Sainz and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen fought in a dramatic on-track scuffle, with the pairing briefly tangling and going off circuit in the closing moments.

 

Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton lost valuable time having been stuck in the Mercedes garage for the first hour in the afternoon running, with the Briton only emerging when the sun was setting. Hamilton used the C5 softer tyres late on to round out the top five, behind Raikkonen – who completed a whooping 165 laps in mileage. Hamilton however, found it difficult to put together quick sectors in his final qualifying simulation runs, even suffering a spin in his final few tours in an unstable-looking F1 W12.

 

Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas was seventh fastest in the morning running. 16^th at the end with more than 80 laps in mileage completed – though the Finn encountered moments of understeer throughout his duties. Bottas complained of a “snappy” and “unforgiving” rear end of his F1 W12 racer yesterday, but he stated that the issues seemed to have been eased at lunch-time on the third day. Although, it has not been the efficient and merciless performances we’ve come to expect from the World Champions.

 

Williams Racing’s George Russell claimed sixth place on the C5 softer tyres on his hot lap as the Briton made his pre-season testing debut on Sunday, after test driver Roy Nissany and team-mate Nicholas Latifi drove on the other two days. Russell wracked up 160 laps in mileage on the final day of running for the Grove-based squad having day three allocated to himself.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris ended the morning third fastest – 11^th in the time-sheets at the end – but team-mate Daniel Ricciardo eclipsed his effort after 90 minutes of afternoon running, taking seventh place on the C4 rubber. The duo achieved 110 laps in mileage in a solid last day of testing for the Woking-based outfit.

 

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso hinted recently that the Enstone-squad would not undertake qualifying simulations on Sunday, as the Spaniard was ninth fastest on C4 tyres – as team-mate Esteban Ocon finished 13^th on the time-sheets using the mediums. The pairing completed over 60 laps each, giving a solid total for Alpine.

 

Although Tsunoda was second overall when the final day’s running ended, his AlphaTauri team-mate Pierre Gasly was 12^th quickest having run in the morning for the Faenza-based outfit. Gasly best effort was posted on the slower C3 compounds.

 

Uralkali Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin completed 67 laps in total and wound-up 14^th on the time-sheets on the C4’s, half a second quicker than team-mate Mick Schumacher – who was full of confidence after completing his morning duties at lunchtime, with the German keen to hit the ground running in the season-opener in less than two weeks.

 

Lastly, Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team endured further problems in the final day’s running, which saw Sebastian Vettel miss out on his stint under the lights. The German completed a decent 56 tours, but the issue – was revealed to be a turbo-boost pressure loss – which prevented Vettel from partaking in the final hour-and-a-half of the session. He finished in a low 17^th, as team-mate Lance Stroll completed 80 laps and brought up the rear with both using the medium compounds for their quick efforts.

 

Fastest Laps Of Pre-Season Testing Per Driver

 

 

Driver	Team	Test Day	Lap Time	Tyres
Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	Day Three	1:28.960	C4
Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Day Three	1:29.053	C5
Carlos Sainz	Scuderia Ferrari	Day Three	1:29.611	C4
Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing	Day Three	1:29.766	C5
Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Day Three	1:30.025	C5
George Russell	Williams Racing	Day Three	1:30.117	C5
Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren Racing	Day Three	1:30.144	C4
Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing	Day Three	1:30.187	C4
Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Day Two	1:30.289	C5
Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Day Three	1:30.318	C4
Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Day Two	1:30.413	C5
Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Day Two	1:30.460	C5
Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari	Day Three	1:30.486	C3
Lando Norris	McLaren Racing	Day Two	1:30.586	C4
Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	Day Two	1:30.760	C5
Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Day One	1:31.146	C4
Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Day Three	1:31.531	C4
Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Day Two	1:31.672	C4
Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Day Three	1:32.053	C3
Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Day One	1:33.742	Test
Roy Nissany	Williams Racing	Day One	1:34.789	C3

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Fastest Laps Of Pre-Season Testing Per Team

 

Team	Driver	Test Day	Time
Red Bull Racing	Max Verstappen	Day Three	1:28.960
Scuderia AlphaTauri	Yuki Tsunoda	Day Three	1:29.053
Scuderia Ferrari	Carlos Sainz	Day Three	1:29.611
Alfa Romeo Racing	Kimi Raikkonen	Day Three	1:29.766
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Lewis Hamilton	Day Three	1:30.025
Williams Racing	George Russell	Day Three	1:30.117
McLaren Racing	Daniel Ricciardo	Day Three	1:30.144
Alpine F1 Team	Fernando Alonso	Day Three	1:30.318
Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Lance Stroll	Day Two	1:30.460
Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Nikita Mazepin	Day Three	1:31.531

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The Most Completed Laps Per Team

 

Team	Number of laps
Alfa Romeo Racing	422
Scuderia AlphaTauri	422
Scuderia Ferrari	404
Alpine F1 Team	396
Uralkali Haas F1 Team	394
Williams Racing	373
Red Bull Racing	369
McLaren Racing	327
Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	314
Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team	304

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Formula 1 2021 Driver Line-Ups

 

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team – The World Champions retain stability in their driver line-up with seven-time World Driver’s Champion Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas for a fifth-straight season. The Silver Arrows remain the absolute benchmark and will be pushing for their eight consecutive Driver’s and Constructor’s titles since the 1.6L V6 turbocharged hybrid era began.

 

 

Red Bull Racing-Honda – Max Verstappen enters his sixth season with the Milton Keynes-based squad and comes off of a positive end to last campaign with victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Dutchman gains a new team-mate for 2021 in Sergio Perez, who joins from Racing Point (now Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team). The Mexican claimed his maiden Grand Prix win at last season’s Sakhir Grand Prix and will be looking forward to hitting the ground running in his new surroundings as he and Verstappen do what it takes to take the fight to the dominant Silver Arrows.

 

 

McLaren Racing – After finishing third in the Constructor’s Championship standings for the first time since 2013, the Woking-based outfit keeps on young-gun Lando Norris who claimed his maiden podium at last year’s season-opening Austrian Grand Prix. The Briton will be joined by new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who joins from Renault. The talented Australian scored two podiums last season at the Eifel and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix and could be just who the team needs to get back onto the top step being a proven seven-time Grand Prix winner. McLaren also returns to Mercedes-power for the first time since 2014 after spells with Honda and Renault. Can the Woking-based outfit look to go one step better in 2021 and claim their first victory since Jenson Button triumphed at the season-closing Brazilian Grand Prix in 2012?

 

 

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team – 2021 sees the return of an iconic marque to Formula One after more than sixty years, following a funding investment from Racing Point owner Lawrence Stroll into Aston Martin, which saw the Canadian invest a 16.7% stake in the company. This resulted into the commercial rebranding of Racing Point UK’s Racing Point F1 Team into Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team for the 2021 campaign. The Silverstone-based squad features a refreshed driver line-up as Lance Stroll who enters his third season with the team, will be partnered by four-time World Champion Sebastian who joins from Scuderia Ferrari following a six-year stint with the famous Maranello marque after Sergio Perez, who was originally set to stay until the end of 2022, made way for the German. Aston Martin will be relishing in having a World Champion onboard to help take the team to the next level.

 

Alpine F1 Team – Another outfit that was rebranded was the Renault F1 Team, to promote the French manufacturer’s sports car brand, Alpine, which continues to serve as the works-based Renault team in Formula One. Alpine F1 Team will have two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso back at the Enstone factory where he achieved his title-winning success in 2005 and 06 respectively under the Renault banner, with the Spaniard teaming with Frenchman Esteban Ocon who claimed his maiden podium at last season’s Sakhir Grand Prix with a second-placed finish. Cyril Abiteboul left Renault as they transitioned to Alpine and was replaced by Davide Brivio who joins from Suzuki’s MotoGP factory team.

 

 

Scuderia Ferrari – The Prancing Horse suffered its worst campaign since 1980 last season, finishing a low sixth place in the World Constructor’s Championship standings. The Scuderia features a refreshed driver line-up with Charles Leclerc who enters his third year with the team and partners alongside the talented Carlos Sainz who joins from McLaren. Can Ferrari get back to the front fighting with Mercedes and Red Bull?

 

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri-Honda – The Faenza-based squad retains maiden Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly who enters his fourth season with the team, and will be joined by new team-mate, Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda who showed promise in Formula One’s pre-season test at Bahrain after finishing third in the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Driver’s Championship standings on 200 points with Carlin and scoring two race victories.

 

 

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN – 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen once again teams with Antonio Giovinazzi as the Hinwil-based outfit retains its driver pairing for a third straight season.

 

 

Uralkali Haas F1 Team – F1’s sole American squad features an all-new driver line-up in 2021 with FIA Formula 2 World Champion Mick Schumacher, son of legendary seven-time World Driver’s Champion and 91-time Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher, teaming with Russian Nikita Mazepin.

 

 

Williams Racing – The Grove-based team keeps stability in its driver line-up with George Russell and Nicholas Latifi for the 2021 campaign as the former contests his third season and the latter his second.

 

Red Bull Racing’s promising pace has created attraction ahead of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, with seven-time World Champion Hamilton suggesting that Mercedes have a tough battle on their hands due to Verstappen and Perez’s solid testing showing.

 

Who really is the quickest in the field?

 

The Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2021 race weekend begins Friday March 26 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday March 27 and the 57 lap Race Sunday March 28.

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