Formula 1: Ferrari’s great comeback and Nikolas Tombazis’ recipe for success

The lights went out on the stunning Bahrain circuit, the engines and tires cooled and the teams handled the outcome and data of the race in very different ways.

Ferrari is still celebrating, Red Bull is looking to see where it comes from, Mercedes is smiling worriedly, Haas and Alfa Romeo are dreaming of the turn of the year. The first Grand Prix has given us five very useful takeaways for the extremely exciting year that has just begun.

• 01. Ferrari’s great comeback

Everything shows that Scuderia is the best prepared team for the 2022 F1 Championship. Charles Leclerc was the undisputed leader of the race. Also, on the few occasions he was chased by Max Ferstappen, he showed too much self-control and experience and pushed him away with complete success. Even in the unbelievable duel with the majority, the Monegasque reacted to every move of the Dutchman and left no doubts in the end. The highlight was overtaking Carlos Sainte towards the end of the race for second place, just before Max finally left the race for an incredible one-two for the Italian team!

• 02. Nikolas Tombazis’ recipe is successful

The new design regulations for this year’s cars, a work by Nikolas Tombazis, proved absolutely successful when the goal was the easiest overtaking. It really often happened that during the race we saw a car closing in on the leader and overtaking him much easier compared to last year. See all about the changes to this year’s cars in the ultimate 2022 Formula 1 guide we’ve prepared here.

• 03. Tire question marks

Although the Shakir track has always been challenging with the tyres, we have noticed increased wear this year compared to previous years. Whether this is due to the conditions prevailing on the track this year (e.g. rough asphalt) or the increase in their diameter from 13” to 18” or ultimately due to the cars themselves and to the extent that the tires are under stress remains unknown . We will have more data on this in the next races.

• 04. Red Bull is better, Mercedes is luckier

It was clear on all three days that Red Bull was faster than Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton had also claimed that. To win a match, however, you must first finish, and Red Bull hasn’t seriously achieved victory, nor is it finished! The Austrian team will need to resolve the reliability issues they faced as they saw both cars pull away on the final laps while securing podium finishes. Let’s not forget that Pierre Gusli’s Alpha Tauri also had an engine – the same one used by RBR and made by Honda. At Mercedes, however, they have a lot more to lose. The lack of speed is 99% due to the porpoising phenomenon.

• 05. Haas and Alfa Romeo have risen, McLaren is still being sought

It looks like Ferrari has a very powerful engine on the ground – maybe the most powerful! Not only the Scuderia showed power and speed on the straights, but also the other two teams that use the same engine. Haas and Alfa Romeo had good pace and climbed up the final standings, with Magnussen (Haas) in 5th place and Botas (Alfa Romeo) just behind him.

Remarkable was the performance of the newcomer Wangyu Chou, who came to the finish Alfa Romeo in 10th place! In addition, the appearance of the two McLarens on all three days was an absolute disappointment. It is clear that the problem they encountered with the brakes during the winter tests cost them a lot and essentially lost the ability to collect data on the development of the car. It remains to be seen if the Ricciardo and Norris engineers can improve anything before the second Grand Prix next Sunday, March 27th in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.