The long wait is finally over. Yes, petrolheads. The F1 action returns to your screens this weekend with a rather untraditional curtain-raiser of a race out in Bahrain.
Image Copyright – Steve Haag Sports
While we’re not getting the season underway in Australia, some things have remained the same. Lewis Hamilton installed as a rather short favourite to claim the Drivers’ Championship. Max Verstappen, however, is 27/20 favourite to claim victory in the first race of the season in Bahrain.
Bahrain Grand PrixSaturday 28 March
Bahrain International Circuit
To Win Race Outright
Max Verstappen 27/20
Lewis Hamilton 16/10
Valterri Bottas 6/1
Sergio Perez 7/1
Season Build UpIt’s been a rather odd build-up to the start of the season with COVID regulations influencing some aspects.
Regardless of this, there were some rather interesting things to come out of the pre-season stuff which we’ll take a look below:
Red Bull shine in final pre-season practice.
Red Bull were in scintillating form during the final few testing sessions out in Bahrain a fortnight ago as they managed to clock times that were more than half a second quicker than their rivals, Mercedes.
Mercedes Struggle
The reigning Constructors’ Champions had a terrible time of it during pre-season testing and only managed to rack up 304 laps between the cars. Valterri Bottas was plagued by mechanical issues, while Lewis Hamilton managed to spin his car. Hamilton has gone on record saying he’s not comfortable with the car set up which means the Mercedes mechanics have work to do to get the car performing for the season opener.
Vettel’s Woes Continue
A move to a new team hasn’t broken Seb’s slump, with the former Ferrari ace only managing to register 117 laps over the Bahrain testing period as he was besieged by technical issues. Here’s hoping the former World Champion has better luck in the season opener.
Track
The Bahrain International Circuit – otherwise known as the Sakhir Circuit – was designed by F1’s favourite circuit architect, Hermann Tilke. The tiny Kingdom spared no expense when it came to constructing the complex with in excess of $150 million going into the original construction contracts.
While the actual complex is home to six different circuits, the one we’ll focus our attention on is the 5.412 kilometres long Grand Prix circuit. The track throws up fifteen different turns with three challenging hairpins set to really test the field.
Last season’s Bahrain Grand Prix was a pretty good one for Red Bull with Max Verstappen taking second and now former driver Alexander Albon claiming third. Hamilton went on to claim first place last year.
While there is being extremely hot weather being forecast for Friday and Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions, the weather is set to cool off for the main race with the local weather bureau forecasting highs in the mid-twenties, at the time of writing.
Value Bet
First Constructor to Retire – Mercedes 12/1
I’ve got a massive speculator for you right off the bat. With Mercedes having a few mechanical issues and their car set up rather wobbly, this bet may be worth a strike. It will also be very interesting to see how they go off the line as a mistake their could well see this bet landing. A small strike at 12/1 will do nicely for me.
To Win Race Outright
Max Verstappen 27/20
Lewis Hamilton has been the dominate force at this track over the past two years but his days may well be numbered with his Mercedes struggling in pre-season and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull firing on all cylinders.
Verstappen doesn’t have the best relationship with the Bahrain Street Circuit but he did manage a sceond place finish last year and I reckon he’ll go one better this time around.
Written by Darry Worthington.
