It looks like we are in for a great F1 season

The 2021 F1 season got off to an incredible start with the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

Everybody speculated on who would have an advantage this year and the performance of the Red Bull during practice and qualifying indicated we could have a great race. We did, and it proved the best we have seen for a long time. The battles for position were from the front to the very back with action everywhere.

The most incredible drive came from Sergio Perez whose Red Bull decided to stop on track with a total electrical failure on the formation lap. The Mexican managed to reboot the system and had a pit lane start, but his drive to finish fifth bodes well for future races.

The promising test results from the AlphaTauri team were sorely tested after Pierre Gasly took off his front wing following a shunt with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and later retired.

Red-hot rookie

The performance of the team’s rookie driver, Yuki Tsunoda, who recovered from a far from perfect start to finish his first F1 race in ninth spot, was amazing.

Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari all brought both cars home in the top 10 – with Lewis Hamilton winning – a fact that must give all confidence for the rest of 2021, particularly the team from Maranello.

Just outside were both Alfa Romeos with Kimi Raikkonen 11th and Antonio Giovinazzi 12th, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was the sole finisher for the team after Alonso retired with brake failure.

Aston Martin’s team principal, Otmar Szafnauer, bemoaned the new regulations effect on the aerodynamics. Lance Stroll managed one point in 10th place while Vettel had yet another lacklustre outing in finishing 15th – one spot behind Williams’ George Russell and one ahead of rookie Mick Schumacher in the Haas. The German’s team-mate Nikita Mazepin put it in the wall at turn one on lap one so it can only improve for the Russian.

Off limits

One aspect of the race that I find difficult to accept is the ruling regarding track limits, an issue which has been with us for some time and, as seen on Sunday, has yet to be resolved.

Hamilton exceeded the limits at turn four for at least 20 laps, seemingly indicating that track limits were not being enforced. This was noted by Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle when, on laps 28 and 29, Hamilton went well over the kerb limits. As the Mercedes driver rejoined the track, Brundle joked, “Hello, welcome to the track, Lewis.”

Mixed messages

On lap 32 Verstappen received a message from his team stating: “Information at this stage is that both Lewis and Valtteri (Bottas) are using the exit of turn four. Feel free to do the same until we are told not to.” Verstappen replied: “Yeah, how is that legal then?”

Then Hamilton was told by his team to respect track limits, and his answer was: “I thought there was no track limits. I’ve been doing it all race.”

This all occurred before the 53rd lap overtaking move when Verstappen passed Hamilton as they entered turn four and both cars ran wide on the exit.

Race control deemed the Dutchman had gained an advantage by exceeding track limits and was told to relinquish the lead to the Englishman. Sky Sports’ David Croft summed it up by saying: “This is the trouble with ambiguous rules.”

Ambiguous

This ambiguity was born out during post-race comments by the drivers, whose answers demonstrated the confusion these constantly changing rulings were creating. Some believed simply you could cross the line; others agreed providing such a move does not provide an advantage.

There was a statement that you could not cross the lines during FP1, FP2 and qualifying but could during the race providing you did not gain an advantage. Try remembering all that in the heat of the moment. I wonder how the magic “advantage” ruling is measured.

If Hamilton, as he stated, had “been doing it all race”, then surely every time he exceeded track limits he gained time over his competitors. If one takes perhaps 0.1sec per lap for just 20 laps this would provide an extra two-second gap to the closest rival. Is this not “advantageous?”. That aside, if Sunday was any-thing to go by, we are in for one helluva a year.

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