Formula 1 testing has just finished in Bahrain. The three days of action have delivered what could be surprising news for sports betting fans, as Mercedes’ era of domination may have come to an end. Obviously, what happens in Bahrain may not translate when the Grands Prix get underway, but for now, the value that Red Bull may offer in the early going could bring in money for bettors.
Let’s look at team rankings after the Bahrain testing, this way you can start thinking about F1 betting odds for the season.
Formula 1 News: Betting Tips for the 2021 Season
Red Bull
Fastest Lap: 1:28.960 (Max Verstappen)
The team used the RB16 last year, a car that was unpredictable at best. This year’s car, in contrast, appears responsive, stable and speedy. Verstappen got his fastest lap in the last hour of testing, under optimal track conditions. He was racing on the C4 tire compound, which was not the team’s best, and when he ran through the speed trap, it appeared that he was not using his Honda engine at as high of a setting as that of Yuki Tsunoda, who was running in second. His fastest test lap was supported by Sergio Perez’s race simulation on day two of testing, which looked better than other team simulations despite the less than optimal conditions on that day.
Mercedes
Fastest Lap: 1:30.025 (Lewis Hamilton)
The W12 that Mercedes has introduced was tough to drive in the testing phases, as both of the team’s drivers noted that there was instability in the rear and that the car did not provide optimal performance. Mercedes put up slow lap times; Hamilton’s best came with a softer compound of tire and still ending up a second slower than Verstappen. Mercedes does use heavier fuel loads than Red Bull in testing, but that does not explain the full second. Over longer testing runs than a single lap, the performance issues abated a bit, but the handling issues are a problem. Can the engineers fix the issue ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix? Another issue came in the gearbox on the first day of testing, which held the team off the track for a full morning.
Ferrari
Fastest Lap: 1:29.611 (Carlos Sainz)
Ferrari may sit at #3, but it is definitely a midfield squad. The testing did reveal some fast times on the last day, as the new engine has given the car an increase in performance. In 2020, Ferrari was near the bottom of the top rankings in speed, but the competitiveness increased in testing this year. Sainz’s lap, along with a race simulation, has Ferrari ranked ahead of Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri, but it is still not ready to compete with Mercedes or Red Bull.
McLaren
Fastest Lap: 1:30.144 (Daniel Ricciardo)
McLaren has changed its engine supplier from Renault to Mercedes, but even so, testing went very smoothly, with the car running well for all three days and providing satisfactory performance. The car took a different approach to the new aero regulations, calling for shorter strake length in the middle of the diffuser. However, McLaren simply angled the strakes so that they are as long as they were but still follow the dimensions in the rules. This is a slight difference, but it is subtle edges that can often lead to the difference between a podium finish and finishing outside the points.
Aston Martin
Fastest Lap: 1:30.456 (Lance Stroll)
Sebastian Vettel did not get a chance to run the AMR21 on qualifying style runs, due to a turbo issue, and a gearbox issue also held him back. He did run longer on heavy fuel in the afternoon on Sunday, but without performing testing similar to the runs that the competition made, Aston Martin is more of a question mark than some of the other teams.
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