As the Australian GP was postponed due to the ever-worsening covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 Formula 1 season was kicked off in Bahrain for the third time in the sport's history. This season saw three rookies joining the grid -the Haas duo of Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher and AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda, who is the only driver to be born in the 21st century. The legendary name of Aston Martin returned to the paddock, as the pink Racing Point team evaluated into racing green Aston Martin over the winter. Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso made comeback to the pinnacle of motorsport after a two-year break, now driving for Alpine team, which was last year known as Renault.
Against the odds, the reigning world champion Mercedes had seemed to be in trouble with both their pace and reliability in the three-day winter tests in Bahrain. However, the very first qualifying session of the season finally revealed, who got what. AlphaTauri's young talent Tsunoda gave a mesmerising impression in the first session, making it second in the standings, only a tenth of a second shy of pace-setting Verstappen's lap time. Former Ferrari pilot Vettel had a devastating start to his new career at the wheel of Aston Martin, as the German got knocked out already in the very first segment. Ferrari's Sainz was hit with engine woes, and Haas' Mazepin spun, which brought out double yellows, ruining the quadruple world champion's attempts to improve.
Four teams opted for the medium compound in Q2 -Mercedes, Red Bull, AlphaTauri and McLaren. The Ferrari duo of Sainz and Leclerc set the pace on the red-walled soft Pirellis, being separated by one thousandth of a second only. In spite of a differing tyre choice, this was a positive sign of the Red Team's improved performance. Q3 proved, that Red Bull's hard work over the winter had really been paying off. Red Bull ace Verstappen took a sweeping pole by 0,388s to the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Bottas in the sister Mercedes was left third, half a second off the pace. Leclerc made a superb job for the Scuderia by qualifying fourth. AlphaTauri's Gasly and McLaren's Ricciardo locked down the third row. McLaren teammate Norris qualified 7th, with Ferrari's Sainz lining up next to the Briton. Sainz's start to his very first season at Ferrari had been extremely impressive, as the Spaniard had already taken the battle to his teammate in the free practice sessions. Alpine's Alonso and Aston Martin's Stroll rounded out the top ten.
Perez, who had moved from Racing Point to Red Bull for the 2021 season, was hit with technical issues already on the formation lap, which forced the Mexican to start to the season-opener from the pit lane. Pole-setter Verstappen took a self-confident start, holding firmly onto his lead. Hamilton was following closely, lurking for a chance to get through. Ferrari hero Leclerc managed to get past Bottas at the end of the second straight, claiming P3. Meanwhile, at the back of the pack, Haas' Mazepin lost control of his car, ending up on the gravel and hitting the barrier. Safety car was deployed.
Restart on lap 4 saw AlphaTauri's Gasly hit Ricciardo's McLaren, and the Frenchman's front wing took severe damage. Also Haas debutant Schumacher spun, avoiding only barely hitting the wall. Virtual safety car was deployed for a short period. As the virtual safety car ended, Bottas took the battle to Leclerc again, taking determinedly his 3rd place back. Only a few laps later, also McLaren's Norris made it past Leclerc, leaving the Monegasque in P5.
In terms of the first pit stops, Hamilton's undercut worked perfectly in the battle against Verstappen, who lost his lead to the Mercedes ace. However, the flying Dutchman started to bang fastest lap times and closing the gap to the Briton. The cat and mouse game came to an end, as the race leader Hamilton pitted for the second time, for a second set of hard Pirellis. Teammate Bottas pitted a couple of laps later, but unfortunately the Finn's pit stop was delayed by some eight seconds, as the Mercedes mechanics had difficulties to detach his front-right tyre. Both Norris and Leclerc managed to overtake the unlucky Finn due to his delayed pit stop. Verstappen pitted not until with 16 laps to go, also for a white-walled hard compound. The Red Bull ace had a 7-second gap to close and an overtaking move to make, was he desired to win the race.
There was only one thing in Verstappen's mind -to take home the winner's trophy. Max decreased the gap to Hamilton tenth by tenth, sector after sector. Meanwhile, race leader Hamilton broke another record having completed 5112 laps in the lead -this was just another record stolen from legendary Michael Schumacher and what a funny coincidence, that it took place in the race, where the legend's son Mick made his F1 debut. With five laps to go, the annoyed Red Bull ace had closed the gap to Hamilton and reached the DRS distance. There was a jaw-dropping dual to come -which driver would take the upper hand and take the winner's trophy home?
With three laps to go, the Dutchman made his fiercy attack. However, he took his RB16B so much to the limit, that he ended up overtaking the Briton off track. Verstappen knew, that he had to give the position back to Hamilton to avoid being penalised. Verstappen turned every stone to find an opportunity to find his way through, but Hamilton made no mistakes and defended his lead stubbornly. Meanwhile, Bottas, who was driving in secured P3, pitted for the third time. The Finn aimed for the extra point for the fastest lap time, which he nailed.
After a race long hair-raising battle, Hamilton opened his season with victory. In spite of having driven a sensational race, Verstappen was a very disappointed runner-up. Bottas, whose only aim for the season is to challenge his teammate at last, couldn't be satisfied with his third place, either. McLaren showed promising performance, as Norris brought his orange car to the chequered flag in P4, with teammate Ricciardo finishing 7th. Ferrari, who had faced a catastrophic worst season in decades last year, saw a promise of improved performance, especially engine-wise. Leclerc finished 6th behind Red Bull's Perez, and Sainz finished 8th in his Ferrari debut. Tsunoda claimed two championship points for AlphaTauri, and Stroll grabbed the last point for Aston Martin.
This was only the start of a record-long F1 season, as there will be 23 races driven in five continents between March and December. The battle continues at Imola in three weeks. Hopefully there will be more to come from the Red Team!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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